


Emotional Manipulation

by CanuckleheadCowgirl, magnetocerebro



Series: 664 Marvel Universe [3]
Category: Marvel (Comics), X-Men (Comicverse), Young Avengers (Comics)
Genre: F/M, Gen, If everyone could stop using Noh that would be great, M/M, Manipulation, Poor Noh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-03-22
Packaged: 2019-10-24 14:20:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 11
Words: 29,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17705897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CanuckleheadCowgirl/pseuds/CanuckleheadCowgirl, https://archiveofourown.org/users/magnetocerebro/pseuds/magnetocerebro
Summary: In the third installment of the 664 Universe, Noh-Varr is finally settling into his place with the X-Men. It took a few bumps to get him there, and he's still learning when and how to hold back from lethal force, but since he's deeply in love with Jubilee, the rest is just details.So when Logan's son, Daken, shows up and decides to take an interest in Noh, Noh's friends have to find a way to get him out of it before Daken runs off with (and destroys) the best thing that's ever happened to Jubilee since she met Logan.





	1. Tread Lightly

 

* * *

For the last few months, things had been surprisingly and mercifully quiet for the X-Men. Magneto had been calmer after Charles had stepped in, Bastion's group had all died out… And even though Scott hated to admit it, Noh had helped somewhat, crippling the MRD and others that would usually come after the team.

Not that it wasn't without its consequences. Hate crimes were up, and Congress was getting up in arms about the "mutant problem." They were getting a lot more calls about kids being attacked, and there were a few attempts at vandalism on the walls at the outskirts of the lawn. But that was at least  _normal_ for the X-Men. Even if it was frustrating.

Still, nothing major had come up in a while, and it was good for everyone, especially the junior team, who were still piecing themselves back together, emotionally speaking. Monet's death had hit them hard, especially after Bastion had messed the team up and blown up their home before that. They  _needed_ the break.

It was also better for a few relationships to grow and flourish — though that particular upside wasn't exactly making Logan happy when it was blatantly obvious that Jubilee and Noh were sneaking off together all the time to get wrapped up. It was patently clear to anyone who saw the two of them that they were head over heels for one another, but that didn't change the low growl that Logan had going on knowing what those two were up to. And it certainly didn't change the fact that Logan still remembered that the kid had left Jubilee in the dust at a crucial time after Monet had died.

So Christmas spirit be damned; Logan was just waiting for Noh to make another misstep. He wasn't going to let the kid get away with screwing Jubilee around, no matter how much Jeannie liked him.

Not that Noh seemed to understand how much danger he was potentially in, even with Jubilee helpfully glaring Logan's way every time he would catch the two of them not far out from having fooled around. Or even with Jubilee pointing out that she wasn't  _some kid_ anymore and that she was old enough to make her own decisions a-thank-you-very-much.

Noh didn't seem to notice that — or if he did, he shrugged it off as another quirk of living on Earth. He was too wrapped up in Jubilee to really care what anyone else thought — and what's more, he was honestly enjoying the holidays as they rolled around. There was plenty to keep him happy and not at all thinking about Logan's annoyance.

Halloween, for example, had been a  _delight_ with all of the candy everywhere as well as the chance to dress up in costume with Jubilee as Charlie Brown and Lucy. They got quite a few compliments on their costumes — and Noh had a blast saying "good grief" on demand just to get Jubilee to laugh. He was trying to do that as often as possible, to make sure that she knew he  _meant_ it when he told her that he was going to do everything in his power to make sure she was loved. To make her  _happy_.

Thanksgiving was also an interesting affair, though Noh wasn't sure he completely understood it. He did have tastes, and he did have food preferences, but this seemed to be something else entirely. Still, it was nice to be around friends, so he did appreciate that part of the holiday.

But Christmas… that seemed to be bigger than all of that.

The decorations went up almost as soon as Thanksgiving was over. Bobby had some great ice sculptures and hanging icicles; Jean hung holly on the walls in a matter of minutes… and Remy made sure that there was plenty of mistletoe everywhere.

 _Everywhere_.

Noh was sure that the mistletoe was his favorite part of Christmas. He was, of course, also sure that he didn't fully understand the tradition, but any excuse to kiss Jubilee was a good excuse, in his opinion.

In fact…

Jubilee had just been coming around the corner when Noh smiled and scooped her up to kiss her under the mistletoe, getting a delighted laugh out of her before she responded in kind. "You're totally taking this mistletoe thing seriously, aren't you?"

"Are you complaining?" he teased.

"Obviously not," she shot back, rearranging herself so that her hands were resting on his shoulders.

Noh smiled and pulled her into a deeper, longer kiss that lasted until Remy let out a wolf whistle as he was walking by. "Atta boy."

Noh chuckled and then turned to Jubilee. "This is, by far, my favorite tradition I've discovered on your world," he told her — and then stole another kiss.

Jubilee couldn't help but laugh at him. "You say that every time."

"Ah, but all those times were before I discovered mistletoe," he teased.

"You're such a dork," Jubilee said, though her tone was full of affection.

"Yes, I am," Noh agreed with a crooked smirk. "And you love me for it."

"True," Jubilee said, her head tipped to the side before she smiled and kissed him back.

Noh grinned through the kiss, already starting to carry her away from the more public setting. "And you know I adore you, right?"

"You could stand to mention it more often," Jubilee said haughtily.

"Every day for as long as I live, perhaps," Noh said, nodding along. "Would that be sufficient?"

"It's a start," Jubilee said, though she was blushing high on her cheeks.

The two of them were still grinning at each other as they made their way down, though they didn't quite get the privacy they were obviously headed for when Noh paused, his enhanced hearing picking up the growls out on the lawn before Logan had picked them up to a level the others would have heard them.

"Something wrong?" Jubilee asked with a frown.

"Very possibly," Noh said, already redirecting to head outside. "Though it could just be that Logan is growling at Bobby again after the icicle incident…"

Jubilee had to snort at that. "Yeah, true," she said, though she was biting her lip as they got to the lawn — where she could hear the growls too.

It wasn't hard to pinpoint the problem, either. There was a big, hulking blond out on the lawn, and Jubilee narrowed her eyes when she saw him. "Oh, of course," she muttered out. "He always shows up on Logan's birthday."

"Then you know him?" Noh said as he set Jubilee down, though he still had hold of her hand, not sure if this was something to let her loose on or protect her from yet — he was still learning.

"Yeah. And I'm going to send him into next week," she said — which pretty much answered his question. "His name is Sabretooth, and he has the stupidest grudge against Wolvie because Wolvie is  _so_ much better than him."

"That does sound stupid," Noh said mildly.

"It so is."

By the time they got closer, Sabretooth and Logan were already circling each other — though Jubilee and Noh weren't the only ones who had come to investigate. Kurt had teleported out and looked like he was ready to join in at a moment's notice, and K was growling low, shaking her hands out and preparing to dive in if need be.

But then, Victor Creed paused in his circling and smirked to himself, redirecting his path toward K instead of toward Logan. Moving faster than it looked like he should have been able to given his size, he drew back and laid into K, knocking her back several steps and leaving her bleeding.

Logan let out a snarl and dove for Creed, tearing into him deeply as the two of them fell into a back and forth that was familiar to Jubilee but seemed surprising to Noh, especially when he had been working for  _months_ now on learning how and when to hold back.

Noh glanced over at Jubilee and frowned more deeply when he saw how upset she looked. "Is this a time to break the rules?" he asked, dipping his head to catch her gaze. He wanted to be  _sure_ , after all.

"Yes. Absolutely," Jubilee said through her teeth, little sparks at the edges of her fingers.

Noh nodded to himself, letting go of Jubilee's hand so that he could watch the fight, waiting for a momentary break in the back-and-forth so that he would have a chance to get involved…

There.

Creed had been growling out his venomous abuse through the entire fight, of course. None of it would have been new to those that had seen Logan and Creed clash in the past, but it was, as always, exactly what Creed needed to use to throw Logan off and get an advantage. Promising to destroy his family, his friends, whatever he thought would make Logan mad.

So that was how Creed was able to get in a seriously good shot after he looked toward Jubilee and growled out a "Too bad your little girlie's too stupid to know better'n to stay outta this" that had Logan almost snarling for the second before Creed hit him hard enough to knock him back several yards.

And honestly, Kurt was about to get involved after that, but Noh got there first, rushing in between Creed and Logan with his teeth bared and his own nails out in claws like Creed's. "Stop before you get hurt," he said, if only because he was  _trying_ to hold to the X-Men's rules, even if Jubilee said this wasn't a time to apply them. He wanted to hold himself to a higher standard when he'd failed to do so before.

But at that, Creed looked like it was the funniest thing he'd heard in weeks, laughing outright and baring his sharp canines Noh's way in return. "You gonna stop me, pretty boy? That's rich."

"I'm trying to give you an easier option," Noh said, his tone laced with a hiss. "Take it."

Creed laughed again — and then darted forward, obviously ready to tear into Noh. So he hadn't expected the young man to dip around him faster than Creed could react and drive all ten fingers into his back and pull down, ripping him wide open and getting Creed to cry out and lash out blindly to try and hit Noh.

Noh responded with a palm strike to Creed's back that had him snarling in pain as a deep black color spread from where Noh had burst something inside him. But it had also made Creed mad enough that he managed to get a hold of Noh and positively tear into him, ripping five long paths down his chest.

Which would have been enough to stop someone who could  _feel_ it.

Noh hissed out his displeasure before he spit at Creed, and Creed's eyes went unfocused for long enough that Noh was able to get Creed to drop him. But before Noh could do anything else or act on the control he now had (however briefly) over Creed, he heard Scott shout, "Noh, get back!"

Given the tone Scott was using, Noh didn't argue and jumped back, away from Creed — and a moment later, one of Scott's optic blasts had hit Creed and thrown him back to the treeline, away from Logan, K, Noh, and Kurt.

Creed was still growling, but it was painfully apparent to him that he wasn't going to win this fight, not with as much backup as Logan had. So he simply snarled his abuse at all of them before he turned back to the trees and left.

Scott shook his head before he turned to Noh and put a hand on his shoulder. "You alright?"

"I'm fine," Noh said, waving off his concern.

Scott didn't look like he believed Noh, though he did look past him to Logan and K, who were both doing their own version of quickly and quietly looking each other over. "You alright?" he asked again, this time directed their way.

"We're fine," K promised, her own injuries already nearly healed anyway, though Logan was glaring toward the trees.

Scott frowned and nodded, though before he could say anything to Logan or K, Noh put a hand on his shoulder and redirected his attention with a question: "Jubilee said that this was a case of being allowed to break the rules…"

Scott nodded quickly, knowing how hard Noh had been working to stay on the path the X-Men were walking and could probably use the reassurance in that moment that he hadn't overstepped. "That guy can heal almost as well as Logan can. And he's been trying to kill Logan for decades. We don't hold back with him."

"Noted," Noh said, though he did pause and cross to where Logan and K were talking quietly to put a hand on K's shoulder and ask, "Are you sure you're alright? I know what he did had to hurt, considering how loud things are in my head right now as I'm redirecting my own pain."

"We're fine, moonbeams," K assured him with a fond sort of smile.

"Believe it or not, this stupid fight that happens  _every year_ is usually much worse," Jubilee said as she came to join them, looking perfectly annoyed by even the thought of this particular birthday tradition.

"Then I'm glad that, this year, you had your family and friends to give you aid," Noh decided with a little nod.

That earned him an affectionate smile from K, and she stood on her toes to kiss his cheek. "You're a good boy," she said and cupped his cheek with her hand before she looked him over more closely. "Now let's get you cleaned up."

Jubilee made a face. "Oooh, yes, good point. There's no  _telling_ where Creed's been. Totally nasty."

"If it's a real concern…" Noh said, not quite sure if they were joking or not, all things considered.

"It so is," Jubilee said with a little giggle. "Come on. I'll help you get all the stupid Creed gunk off."

But at that, Noh couldn't help but smile, finally catching on to her insinuations. "Oh, yes," he said, nodding seriously. "I'm going to need a lot of help getting clean."

Jubilee laughed and grabbed Noh's hand to lead him off — even as K very quietly told Logan to please not kill the boy and redirected him to something a little more fun to celebrate his birthday.

* * *

Of course, what none of the X-Men knew was that Creed wasn't the only person who had decided to come to the institute on Logan's birthday — though he was the only one who had actually confronted Logan. The X-Men hadn't known he was there, because he could mask his scent and stay hidden as well as he pleased, but Daken had seen the entire fight between his father and Sabretooth.

At first, Daken had been annoyed. He knew, of course, that Sabretooth always insisted on putting his big, ugly nose into his father's business every year to mark the occasion, but to come so early in the day? That had interfered with Daken's own plans.

Of course, Creed had probably had the same thought Daken did: that earlier in the day would be the best time to catch Logan before he was expecting anything. Not that Logan had fallen for it. He'd clearly been on edge and waiting around for that fight all day. In some sense, Daken was glad that Creed had come and gotten it over with.

Still, it meant that Logan was slipping off to privacy with K, and Daken did  _not_ want to be forced to endure dealing with his father and his stepmother's intimate lives.

At any rate, he could easily find something else to amuse himself in the meantime.

Or, if he pleased, he could find some _one_ else.

Daken prided himself on keeping track of important developments, both relating to his own interests in the criminal underworld and his father's interests. It was not only a way to keep himself sharp but a way to find more creative avenues for making his father pay for his negligence. So he'd heard all about the alien that the X-Men had in their ranks, the one who had destroyed all of those anti-mutant facilities and so clumsily brought down even more hatred on a group that was already hunted.

But seeing the boy in person, Daken could almost understand it. Stupid and pretty — it was a common enough combination.

Still, he could be an interesting diversion. Watching that fight, Daken knew the pretty little alien was strong, fast, and resilient. And with a high pain tolerance and healing… well.

This was definitely worth looking into.


	2. Christmas Shopping Gone Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Noh runs into a strangely attractive young man...

 

* * *

Since the Christmas tradition was to buy presents for loved ones, Noh had decided to go to the mall himself to look for something Jubilee might like. He knew she probably expected him to get her music, but he was always doing that.

Instead, he was thinking he might get her something that suited her. He had her sizes, though he knew from experience that there was  _no_ logic to clothing sizes. And then there was the possibility of jewelry. Maybe earrings; those didn't need sizing.

Storm had given him Remy's credit card, of course, so he had the run of the shopping center. Though he had a feeling if he'd told Remy that he needed money for a romantic gift for Jubilee, he'd offer it anyway. Or Jean would…

He had been through a few different stores until he found what he was looking for: a full set of accessories for her, from some high top boots to star-shaped earrings to a necklace that had a music note set in a star that he thought perfectly summed up the two of them.

So he was pretty pleased with himself when he stopped for coffee, figuring he would also get one of those little cake things to bring back with him for Jubilee. Which was when he finally hit a snag in a day that had been going exceedingly well until that point: the card-reader was broken. And since he was using Remy's card, he didn't have a way to pay...

"It's on me," a stranger said, as he leaned half across Noh with a little smirk and a very large bill. "You look like you might be low on sugar."

"I and my girlfriend," Noh said, nodding his thanks. "I appreciate it."

The young man gave him an obvious once over and smirked a little wider. "Lucky girl."

Noh smiled at that as he sat down at the tall table near the counter. "No, I'm the lucky one," he said honestly, still smiling and feeling pretty good despite the card reading incident.

"That's adorable," the stranger said, resting his chin in his hand.

"She is."

"So are you." He leaned back and tipped his head. "Interesting look you have."

Noh looked down at his trenchcoat and the black pants that Jubilee said fit him perfectly snugly and then smirked. "It's not quite what I usually wear, but I'm trying out a new look."

"What is it you usually wear? Something fitted, I hope."

Noh smirked at that, surprised when his heart skipped a beat — though he looked back down at his coffee and had to smirk when he heard the girls at the table nearby whispering to each other and daring each other to be the first to talk to the young man across from him. Maybe he was a celebrity; he certainly had the looks for it. "Yes, actually," he said. "It's a bit of a redesign from what I had when I first got here, but the color scheme is the same, and I've been told short pants are not my style," he added — not really sure why he was telling a stranger so much.

The young man smiled a little wider at that. "I agree. Best to leave a little to the imagination. At least at first."

"You have quite the look as well," Noh said, gesturing to the designer suit.

At that, the young man straightened up and reached into his vest pocket to produce a business card. "My tailor would love to design something for you, I'm sure." When he handed the card to Noh, he was sure to trace his finger across Noh's hand. "If you tell me your name, I'll make sure he'll watch for you."

Noh leaned forward unconsciously, suddenly aware of how close they were. "It's Noh-Varr," he said in an almost breathless voice.

"Yuu," he replied, smiling a little wider.

Noh nodded and repeated the name, still feeling more flushed than he had any reason to feel. "Is there any chance you are a celebrity?" he asked. "I'm not from around here, so I wouldn't know."

Yuu slowly shook his head at that, not dropping Noh's gaze at all.

"It's just that you are garnering a lot of attention," Noh said, gesturing with one hand toward the girls nearby, though he was still watching Yuu.

"Am I?" Yuu asked, not even looking toward the girls.

"Yes, well." Noh cleared his throat. "Yes, well, they must have good taste."

Yuu let out a breath of a laugh and looked down to his hands for just a moment. "Well. That remains to be seen, I think."

Noh nodded. There was a little voice in the back of his head pointing out that something wasn't quite adding up, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was when he hadn't felt any mental intrusions and honestly, this Yuu was handsome. But… he glanced away and saw the bags sitting on the table that he still had to wrap for Jubilee and cleared his throat. "Thank you, again, for the coffee," he said.

"It was my pleasure," Yuu said, once again smiling in a troublemaking fashion. "Perhaps you can catch me another time." With that, he got to his feet, glanced at the girls at the next table, then simply leaned forward to steal a little kiss from Noh. "See you around, Noh."

For a moment, Noh could only blink after Yuu, his heart pounding in his ears louder than the sound of the girls complaining nearby. It took him several seconds to regain his composure, but then he finally nodded, took a deep breath, and grabbed his bags.

And, honestly, once he was in the open air, he felt a lot better. The walk back home was definitely doing him some good.

He didn't know what had come over him. For  _months_ , he'd been trying to prove to Jubilee that he was in love with her. And he  _was_. So for this Yuu to just… walk into a coffee shop and upend everything? It was beyond inconvenient.

He was completely preoccupied by the time he got back to the institute and gave Storm back the credit card, almost missing it when she smiled at him. "Did you find something perfect?" she asked. "If not, I can help."

Noh paused and then belatedly gave her a smile. "Yes, I found some perfect things for Jubilee," he said, though Storm had to frown when he sounded almost distant.

"Was there a problem with Remy's card?" Storm asked.

"Just a momentary blip," Noh said. "A card reader error… a young man paid for my coffee…" He brushed his fingers through his hair. "He was… preternaturally … aesthetically pleasing."

"And did that bother you?"

"Yes," Noh said, frowning to himself. "I don't… he paid for my coffee and then he kissed me. And I didn't ask him to do either of those things."

Storm paused, her eyebrows raised for a moment. "It sounds as if you have an admirer."

"I… suppose," Noh said. "I  _did_ tell him that I have a girlfriend…" He took a tighter grip on his bags. "And I'm deeply in love with her. So I don't…" He gestured with one hand. "I've dealt with admirers before. In other universes. This felt different, somehow."

Storm shook her head at that. "I don't know what to tell you, Noh. Regardless, you have to do what you think is right."

Noh shook his head quickly. "No, I wasn't suggesting—" He let out a breath. "It was a strange encounter, but of course, as soon as I left the coffee shop, I could only think of Jubilee. I found her the nicest gifts, and I truly love her." He shook his head. "It was… odd. I'm not sure what to make of it."

Storm smiled at him as kindly as she knew how. "Then perhaps it's best to focus on the now. I have paper to wrap your gifts in my room … top of the stairs in the attic."

Noh broke into a smile at that. "Thank you. And thank you for giving me the card. It's for a good cause, I assure you."

"I'm sure it is," Storm replied. "I've seen how you look at her. I wouldn't cross Logan or go through the trouble of stealing that card otherwise."

Noh paused. "You crossed Logan?" he asked — it was news to him.

"Not exactly," she said. "But if I thought you weren't sincere and was helping you with Jubilee, that  _would_ be crossing him."

"Ah," Noh said, nodding his understanding. "Well, don't worry. She's absolutely perfect. Would you like to see the necklace I found for her? As soon as it caught my eye, I knew I wanted to see her wear it." The more he talked to Storm about Jubilee, the more relaxed he felt as he tried to shake off whatever had happened at the coffee shop, and he was honestly grinning as he took out the little jewelry box to show Storm.

"She'll love it, Noh. All of it," Storm promised.

He smiled at her and then gave her a quick hug. "Thank you. Maybe I just needed to talk to someone. I feel much better." When he set her down, he grinned brilliantly and then rushed up to wrap his gifts and then go find Jubilee.

And of course, when he saw her again, he broke into a smile. She was stunningly beautiful — how could he have ever even entertained anyone else? He shook his head. No, he was allowed to appreciate beauty as long as it stayed at that level. But Jubilee was a cut above the rest of it. All of it. He'd be a fool to lose her.

He rushed over and picked her up to spin her around in a hug that ended in a kiss. "Have I told you how beautiful you are lately?" he asked.

"You might have mentioned it in passing," Jubilee teased.

"Well I must tell you this every day," Noh decided. "In case you forget." He grinned at her and stole a kiss. "Oh, I should mention… I have Christmas presents hidden away for you. Lest you think I only care about mistletoe this time of year."

"Well … maybe that's what  _I'm_ more concerned with this year," Jubilee said slowly.

"Far be it from me to get in your way," Noh teased and then kissed her deeply.

* * *

For the most part, Noh had managed to put the strange young man out of his mind, especially as Christmas drew nearer. A few of the students and even some teachers went home for the holidays, but that made the few that did stay feel closer, somehow.

The week before Christmas, then, a few people decided to go ice skating. The lake wasn't quite frozen solidly enough to support them all, and Bobby had already gone off to Boston to see his parents, so they went to the rink in town instead.

It was a blast.

It had taken a few minutes for Noh to get used to the feeling of the blades on his feet, but once he had done it for a little while, he started to  _play_ , watching the way the others moved until he got confident enough to skate with Jubilee, too, picking her up, spinning her around, and skating with her in his arms…

He loved her, and he loved the way she looked at him when she was nestled in his arms.

The other people at the rink had noticed the two of them, too — and they got some applause a few times. Which just had Noh grinning at Jubilee as he stole a kiss ... and got more applause. "I think the rest of the world is stunned by you, my Jubilee."

Jubilee laughed. "You're totally showing off."

"And if I am?" Noh asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Don't stop," she giggled.

"Good, because I love to hear you laugh," Noh said and stole another kiss. "And I love to see you smile. Your face lights up, and you shine as bright as your fireworks."

Jubilee giggled and resettled with her arms around his neck, and they continued to skate together until those that weren't more resilient started to get cold. So they started to trickled out of the rink and take off their skates — and that was when Noh caught sight of the young man that he'd seen at the coffee shop.

He paused for a moment when he saw Yuu, unconsciously holding Jubilee a little tighter before he tore his gaze away.

Jubilee frowned when she saw the look on his face. "What's up?"

"I have… an admirer," Noh said. He didn't see any reason to lie to her, especially because he'd already almost lost her so many times that he was trying to be as open as possible. He looked toward Yuu, but the young man was gone as Jubilee followed his gaze.

She tipped her head and then shrugged and stole a kiss. "Well, you  _are_ super cute," she pointed out.

He smirked and nodded. "I am," he agreed and kissed her. "It's just that this one met me when I was getting coffee and sweets and — well, he bought my coffee and then kissed me." He quickly explained before she could react, "I didn't ask him to. I was shocked. Obviously, I would rather kiss  _you_. But to see him here again was… disconcerting."

Jubilee frowned and looked past Noh, trying to find the guy he was talking about. "You know … you're allowed to tell people that you don't want them to kiss you, right?" She took his hand and frowned to herself. "It's just as bad when someone pushes a guy as it is when they push a girl."

"I know; it just took me off-guard," Noh admitted.

"I just … don't want anyone to take advantage of you like  _that_ , too," Jubilee said carefully, well aware that he had tried to be open with her about it.

Noh nodded and then kissed her gently. "Don't worry," he told her. "It will take more than an attractive, aggressive stalker to take my mind off of you."

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see," she said with a little shrug.

Noh shook his head at her. "No waiting necessary. You are beautiful, funny, warm, and smart." He leaned forward with a smirk. "And I  _want_ you to kiss me. In that you have so much the advantage."

"Don't know if I can hold up to attractive, aggressive stalkers, though," Jubilee said, only half teasing — though she was trying to keep her chin up.

Noh shook his head at her. "Should I start listing more ways that I love you?" he asked. "Because I can. We could start with the way you blow bubbles and work our way to the way you sleep with your arm around me…"

"I think … this is one of those times that actions might speak louder than words …"

"Then that's what I will do," Noh agreed, pulling her into a long, deep kiss.


	3. The Wrong Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Yuu comes back and Noh is pretty darn confused.

 

* * *

On Christmas morning, everyone headed down to the living room, where there were plenty of gifts underneath the tree already. The staff had all pitched in for presents for any students without family — a tradition that the kids honestly appreciated so they didn't feel left out.

And Noh was particularly excited as he handed Jubilee his wrapped box — with the boots, earrings, and necklace inside. He was still doing his best to show her how he felt, and when she unwrapped the star-shaped earrings and smiled, he thought he might be on the right track. "I thought you might like to carry the stars with you when I'm not within sight," he teased.

Jubilee couldn't hide her shock — or the fact that she had  _no_ intelligible response. So instead, she simply threw her arms around his neck and held on tight.

Noh broke into a laugh and pulled her tightly to him. "That's a good reaction, yes?" he asked — just to be sure… and to get her to smile.

"Yes," she almost breathed out before she kissed him. "Thank you. It's perfect."

"I'm glad," Noh said and kissed her back. "You should have beautiful things, Jubilee. You are beautiful inside and out."

"You are the sweetest person I know," she said then tipped her nose up. "And ... apparently … a little biased."

"I'm very sure that's how dating is supposed to work," he teased. "I fall so deeply in love that I can see no blemish, no matter how dark." He grinned. "Not that you had any such thing to begin with."

"You're such a freakin' poet," Jubilee giggled.

"I blame your music," he teased.

"Well … I blame your understanding of the English language. But go ahead and keep … being  _you_."

"I understand your language perfectly!" Noh insisted, smiling wider when she laughed at his fake outrage. "I have your dictionary memorized, you know!"

"It's not the words … it's the … you know what? Nevermind. Just … carry on, Stardust or whatever your name is this week."

"According to K, for the last week, it's been Sugar Plum."

Jubilee let out a little snort as she tried to cover her mouth. "No, no that's perfect. Yes. I like it."

"I didn't understand it at first, and then Jean introduced me to the  _Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies_ …" Noh chuckled. "K is hilarious."

"She really is," Jubilee said, then paused and stuck a finger in his face. "But don't tell her I said that."

"Why?" Noh teased. "You're afraid she might think you like her?"

"Shut up," Jubilee said with a little frown. "No. It's … I gotta make sure she keeps in line for my Wolvie."

"They're married; I think they're fine," Noh teased.

Jubilee frowned. "That's so not the point."

"The point is you're doing for him what he's doing for you every time he growls at me," Noh said with a smirk.

"The point? Is that she flirts too much with Iron Man."

"That… is actually a good point," Noh conceded. "But it's not going to go anywhere. Even if it is odd. She's made her choice."

"You better be right," Jubilee said a little softer.

Noh let out a sigh and leaned forward to kiss her. "What do you need to make you feel better?" he asked gently.

"I don't know," she said. "Maybe just … um … we can get away from the loudness, I think. That might be good."

"Alright," Noh said, picking her up in his arms as he liked to do and smirking as he carried her past the other X-Men, who by that point were used to it. "Merry Christmas," he said toward Scott and Jean — and then toward Logan and K as well.

Logan scowled a little at them but couldn't  _really_ do anything while K had made a point to park herself on his lap with the booze within easy reach.

Noh smirked a little more as he headed out into the snow with Jubilee. "I think K likes me," he told her frankly. "She does such a good job of protecting me from your protective Wolverine."

"True," Jubilee conceded. "And she does let me go on runs Logan and Scott don't want me to go on."

"Which is ridiculous," Noh said, shaking his head. "You are a force to be reckoned with, Jubilee. I couldn't fall for anyone who wasn't."

"You know … I wasn't  _supposed_ to go on the mission that they found  _you_ on."

Noh smiled wider at that and pulled her into a long kiss. "Then I'm doubly glad for K, since that means she helped me to meet you. Even when I was suspicious of everything, I noticed you were stunning and warm."

" _You_ are a wonderful flirt, Sugar-Noh."

"And  _you_ are the light of my life, Jubilee," Noh shot back easily.

"Love you too," she said very quietly, blushing the instant the words had left her mouth.

But that just had Noh smiling even more. "I love you. Truly and deeply," he told her, then kissed her all over again.

* * *

After the excitement of Christmas and then a stunning New Year's celebration with the best fireworks display Jubilee had put on in a while (that wound up in a New Year's kiss that, once again, had Logan not all that happy with how wrapped up Noh and Jubilee were getting), the students started to trickle back in, and life resumed as usual for everyone at Westchester.

Not that they didn't still find fun things to do. In fact, the first weekend into the semester, most of the student population hit town to go to an ice festival, complete with hot cocoa, guys with chainsaws, and Bobby making commentary and quietly helping some of the nicer contestants… and sabotaging the jerks.

Jubilee was highly entertained watching the ice sculpting, but Noh had actually gotten distracted himself talking with Jean, who had accidentally revealed that she was going to tell the others that she was pregnant soon during a session with Charles in which they had been sharing minds and she was too excited not to let it slip.

He was honestly interested in it — because he'd been grown, not raised. So listening to Jean talk about her excitement and all the plans she already had… it was fascinating.

Of course, it meant that both of them were totally wrapped up in their conversation until Jean heard through her connection with Scott that he had cocoa for them both and gave Noh a quick little wave to head off, leaving him shaking his head at her. She was  _so_ thrilled that her excitement was honestly infectious.

He found a seat near where they'd been talking and laid out on the bench, watching the goings on with a little smile and just thinking about all of it. Jean's excitement, Scott's quiet grin, the fact that K and Logan had been sharing knowing looks for as long as they had… He'd never seen anything like it.

Jubilee was still laughing as Bobby slowly hardened the ice on one of the sculptures to the point that the guy trying to carve it got his chainsaw bound up in the ice, and Logan and K had slipped into a winery a few blocks down that had mulled wine advertised outside … which was a great opportunity for Yuu to step up behind him where he was seated. "The cherry blossoms are the prettiest sculpture here, don't you think?" Yuu said, though he'd been almost silent in his approach.

Noh sat up straighter. He hadn't thought much of listening for anyone around him when there were so many people going every which way. "I… am partial to the ones the smaller contestants made," he said after a pause. It was an innocent enough comment, after all, though alarm bells were going off in his mind with how quickly he could feel himself getting caught up in that strange excitement that had lingered in the air before.

"Yes, but the light catches so nicely on the larger polished pieces," Yuu said before he simply took a seat next to him. "The blowtorch does amazing things to ice."

"True enough," Noh agreed. And then, because he still didn't know what to make of this stranger, he added, "My girlfriend likes to watch them being made more than she likes the sculptures themselves, I think."

Yuu smiled at that. "I'd have to agree with her on that then," he said. "It's fascinating what can be done from a clean slate."

"Is that why you came?" Noh asked, glancing toward the group of his friends with his heartbeat rushing in his ears. He was surprised by how much he wanted to stay right there with Yuu, though he knew he needed to go find Jubilee, past experience considered.

"Possibly," Yuu said with a little shrug. "I like to see all sorts of beautiful things."

"Then you would have liked the fireworks show at the new year," Noh said.

"I was out of the country for that," he said. "Though the fireworks where I was were spectacular."

"Well, my darling Jubilee does them herself," Noh said, though his gaze had shifted from his friends to Yuu. He was once again well aware of how close they were.

Yuu looked almost surprised at that. "Does she?" He had his head tipped slightly to the side as he watched Noh — and then turned to see who exactly was near Jubilee. "The young lady with the hot pink earrings? I think I've seen her somewhere before."

"She's a hero," Noh said with a fond smile. "An X-Man. And I love her," he added. Because that was true, even if he was fighting hard to remember it.

Yuu looked properly impressed for a moment, then gently leaned toward him. "Are you a hero too?" His tone was low and almost a purr.

"I… am trying to be," Noh said, suddenly fighting back the urge to kiss Yuu. "I'm not very good at it just yet."

"I'm willing to bet you're  _amazing_."

"Mm." Noh was having a hard time at this point thinking of anything outside of Yuu.

Yuu watched him for just a moment. "I don't suppose you'd like to get some coffee sometime, would you?" As he spoke, Yuu was watching Noh's mouth, only glancing up when Noh hesitated to answer.

"I ... well, I really shouldn't," Noh said, though he was caught up in watching Yuu's expression until he surprised himself and leaned forward to kiss Yuu.

When the kiss broke, neither of them pulled back right away, and Yuu spoke up before Noh could get his wits about him properly. "Another time, then?"

"I — yes, well—" Noh blinked at Yuu a few times before he backed up and then got enough of a grip on himself to run off and find someplace quiet and very, very cold to cool off. He had  _no_ idea why he'd done that, and he was honestly horrified with himself. He couldn't feel any intrusions in his mind, and as far as he could tell, he was just… attracted to Yuu.

Which was ridiculous, wasn't it? Every second he spent with Jubilee was the best moment of his life, and she was more than just beautiful and attractive. It wasn't just that he wanted to kiss her; he wanted to hear her laugh and make her smile and help her convince the others to let her join the senior team…

If he'd been exploring, he wouldn't have hesitated with Yuu. But Jubilee meant too much to him to break her heart.

But then he'd kissed Yuu…

He would just have to be more vigilant. He couldn't be alone with Yuu, clearly.

He cleared his throat and shook his head hard, though it was hard to disperse the rushing heartbeat and excitement that was still lingering.

Maybe he just needed to find Jubilee.

He rubbed his forehead with his fingertips and then finally headed back for the group, not surprised to find Jubilee where he had last seen her before he slid up to her and grabbed her hand. "I like when you laugh," he said gently — as much to remind himself as her.

"I like when you randomly compliment me for no apparent reason," Jubilee shot right back.

Noh smiled at that and squeezed her hand. "It's because I love you," he said. "I think that should be reason enough."

"Um … okay then. Sure …" Jubilee was smirking crookedly at him. "So. I'm totally frozen now, and I don't think I can feel my nose right?" In illustration, she popped up to kiss his cheek, then stuck her cold nose on the side of his neck. "Wanna go warm up somewhere? Maybe get some cocoa at the coffee shop or something?"

"Ah…" Noh thought of Yuu's offer of coffee. "Why don't we go home?" he asked. "We could get some hot chocolate, sit by the fire…"

She bounced as she turned. "Sure, whatever works. I just know that I'm partially frozen …" She smiled wickedly and then shoved her hand up his shirt. "See?"

Noh let out a yelp of surprise and then laughed before he spun her around in a kiss. "You're terrible to me!" he teased.

"I … am just showing you a time-honored Earth tradition," she said with a grin.

He laughed and then kissed her again. "Well, if you wanted to get under my clothes so badly, you only needed to ask," he teased right back.

"I  _did_ say I was cold," she giggled. "And you know … there is a  _survival_ course that has very specific instructions when someone is half  _frozen_." She grinned obnoxiously. "Think of it as  _training._ "

Noh laughed and kissed her hard. "I like this idea," he said, picking her up in his arms and then running off with her, once again completely wrapped up in Jubilee — as he wanted to be in the first place.


	4. Cheating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which things with Yuu go from bad to worse.

 

For about a week after he'd kissed Yuu, Noh had resisted going into town again. He was still too horrified with himself.

But it was obvious that Jubilee wanted to hang out at the mall, spend time doing the things she loved, so he couldn't keep that up forever, and they wound up in town with several of the other students on a massive shopping trip. Noh was hoping that the numbers would deter Yuu, and he was making it a point to stick close to his friends.

Of course, all that was well and good, but reminders of Yuu seemed to be everywhere — in coffee and in the tailor that Yuu had recommended. Noh recognized the name, and they had walked by the building no less than five times as they wandered around, window shopping.

So when they passed it a sixth time and Noh saw Yuu sitting outside of the tailor, he was almost holding his breath and trying his best not to make eye contact. Not that it seemed to work when he found himself slipping into the tailor's shop all the same.

Of course, almost as soon as he'd stepped into the shop, Yuu had taken his jacket off and stepped up onto the pedestal where one of the tailors got to work, though he called over his shoulder to Noh. "One moment, please. This gentleman has been waiting."

"Yes, of course," Noh said, watching Yuu for a long moment before he blinked and shook his head, taking a step back toward the door. "My apologies…"

"I can wait a bit longer," Yuu said, then looked up and smiled broadly at Noh. "Or perhaps a bit more than a few minutes."

Noh found himself nodding, a quiet smirk at the corner of his mouth — before he caught himself. "No," he said, "you came here to be fitted…"

"Its' fine," Yuu said. "He was just going to double check a few measurements — make sure I hadn't changed too much from last time."

"I should hope not," Noh said with a small smile.

Yuu grinned crookely and rested one hand at his waist. "I actually think I've lost some since my last trip here. A trick in the winter."

"You don't look as though you had any reason to worry," Noh said, taking a few steps closer to sit down nearby, his gaze on the young man being fitted.

"There's always a reason to be concerned," he replied.

"I wouldn't know."

"No," Yuu said, then gave him a little once over. "I suppose you don't."

"I'm not even sure why I came in," Noh said, trying to say something out loud to put words to how  _very_ confused he was.

"Well … perhaps you've decided to try out a little more mature look," Yuu said. "You'd look lovely in charcoal, I think."

Noh smirked. "You should see me in my new uniform," he said. "Black with green accents and a white center…"

"I think I'd like that," Yuu said. "When would you like to show me?"

"Anytime you like," Noh said, caught up in the smirk at Yuu's mouth.

"I'd like to go as soon as we're done here, seeing as you've gotten to see my 'suit,' as it were."

Noh nodded, leaning back as he watched Yuu. "I could show you my ship," he said. "It's a living, breathing entity. She's more powerful than anything in this universe."

"That … that sounds almost as fascinating as you."

Noh grinned crookedly. "You have no idea."

Yuu smiled a little wider. "I'd love it if you showed me."

"Then if you're finished here…" Noh tipped his head.

Yuu looked to the tailor, who smirked up at him and nodded. "You haven't lost enough to make an adjustment do you any favors. Not today, anyhow."

"Good to know," he said before he stepped off the little podium and rebuttoned his vest as he headed toward Noh. "Lead the way, please."

Noh smirked and then simply picked Yuu up. "Faster my way," he said.

For an instant, Yuu looked entirely off guard, but he recovered quickly enough. "We'll see about that."

Noh smirked harder before he simply zipped off with Yuu, winding up in the hangar much sooner than Yuu had expected before he set Yuu down and gestured with one hand to his ship. "See?"

He looked appropriately awed — not only at the ship itself but at how  _easy_ it was to get this deep into the X-Men's home. "I don't suppose I rate a tour, do I?"

"Oh, of course," Noh said, grinning as he took Yuu's hand — though the ship wouldn't open. "Oh, really… Don't take that attitude with me! You've let our other friends see—" When the ship whirred a little louder, Noh rolled his eyes. "What do you  _mean_ this isn't the same? I know for a fact the crew and I brought home beings of every size, shape, gender, sexuality—" The ship whirred. "No, I have  _not_ forgotten about Jubilee. She's—" He stopped and looked around the hangar. "Well… not here…" He'd lost some of his sharper tone as he frowned, suddenly realizing he'd left Jubilee and the others in town. Which he had  _not_ meant to do.

His head hurt...

Yuu reached out to take Noh's hand, bringing his attention back around. "I know it's not as impressive, but if you'd prefer, I have an apartment in the city …"

Noh frowned at the  _Marvel_ for a moment longer before he let out a breath and turned back to Yuu. "Yes, well, my ship is being emotional," he said. "She's not usually like this…"

The corner of Yuu's mouth quirked up slightly. "Well, I understand the protective impulse."

"She's all I have left of my home," Noh admitted, reaching out to put a hand against her hull — and for a moment, he frowned again, suddenly remembering that he didn't want to do anything with Yuu and that he shouldn't have brought anyone here without talking to Charles or Scott first.

The moment he took his hand off the ship, though, Yuu moved in fast and pulled him into a much more tender kiss than they'd shared before. When they broke apart, he spoke against Noh's mouth: "I'm sorry that you have so little to remind you of home. It's not the same, but I can't go back to my home either."

Noh nodded, resting his forehead on Yuu's. "I'm sorry for your loss then," he said in a breath.

"It's their loss," Yuu replied just as quietly. "They never liked having a half-breed among them."

Noh frowned at that, tracing the edge of Yuu's face with his fingers. "Their loss indeed," he said. "Your world is at a time of genetic explosion. They should celebrate its advances. Especially the more pleasing ones."

But at that, Yuu shook his head gently. "It's not even that advanced of a problem," he said. "My country isn't very open to outsiders."

"Nor was my planet, unless we could assimilate them into ours," Noh said, still tracing a pattern.

"Not even at that," Yuu said. "I was born there, but my father wasn't, so I've always been  _gaijin_  to them."

"I don't know that word, and I know this language in its entirety."

"It means foreigner." He smiled almost sadly. "But it's  _not_ English. I'm  _half_ Japanese."

Noh nodded. "Then I should learn that language too," he said and stole a gentle kiss. "When my ship cooperates, of course."

"I would like that," Yuu said.

"If she would let me in, I could download your language directly to my systems," Noh explained. "I could speak it in a day's time."

Yuu smiled a little more crookedly at that. "What do you think is most important to learn first — since I could teach you a little myself?"

"I'm not sure," Noh admitted. "I've always learned all of it at once."

"Would you like another kiss?" Yuu asked, already leaning a little closer.

Noh smirked at that and beat Yuu to the punch with a much longer kiss than before. "That is a universal language," he breathed out when the kiss broke.

" _Hai_ ," Yuu replied with a little smile.

Noh was smiling to himself as he rested one hand on the back of Yuu's neck. "When I came here, I did learn a bit of English before my ship was fixed. Little things like 'no' and 'ship' and the names of my rescuers…" He stole another kiss. "Where do you think we should start?"

"I think 'yes' is the best place," Yuu said. "'No' can stop the fun."

"And 'yes' is…"

" _Hai._ "

Noh repeated it to himself, nodded, and then kissed Yuu again. He was ringing with anticipation and not much thought at that point. "You had an apartment?" he asked in Yuu's ear.

Yuu nodded at that and whispered back the address — along with a short version on where they were headed once they got to the building in one of the much nicer areas of New York.

* * *

And in the meantime, the others had noticed Noh's absence, but there really wasn't any clue to where he had gone. And unlike the last time he'd disappeared, there wasn't any  _reason_ for it.

They spread out to look, but when it was clear he wasn't anywhere in the shopping center, Paige was the one who called back home — because she didn't like how upset Jubilee looked. "Hey, um, we lost an alien?" she said when Kurt was the one to pick up the line.

"I thought that was nearly impossible for you to do when they are  _kissing_ so often," Kurt teased.

"You'd think," Paige agreed, smirking toward Jubilee for a second before she shook her head. "Seriously, though. We were all together, and then he just… disappeared. Not a peep! And we were having  _fun,_ so it's not like he was running off to avenge something like last time or whatever."

"I'll ask Jean to get on Cerebro, then," Kurt said. "I'm sure she'll be in touch in no time at all. In the meantime, try to get Logan to stop long enough to  _breathe_ and perhaps  _look_ instead."

"Yeah, well, maybe we could use a good tracker," Paige said, glancing back at Jubilee. "I thought aliens were supposed to be the ones doing the abducting," she said, trying to get her friend to smile, though Jubilee just gave her a dry look for it. "Hey, it was a good joke." She held both hands up. "Okay, so… we're going to keep looking. Thanks, Kurt."

* * *

It didn't take Jean long to find Noh on Cerebro. But she hadn't called the others yet, because… well… she didn't want to.

She was  _sure_ there was an explanation. Every time Noh was even in sight of Jubilee, everyone could see how he looked at her — and Jean had been in his mind and could hear the happiness and love he was projecting everywhere when they were together.

She  _knew_  he was in love, so why…?

She stared at Cerebro for a long time before she finally reached out to Scott.  _I found him. He's… safe, anyway. Though he won't be when he gets home._

_What's that supposed to mean, Jean?_

_It means he's having a_ tryst _,_ Jean said, some of her anger bleeding into her mental tone as she narrowed her eyes.

…  _what?_

 _That's what I said,_ Jean said heatedly.  _He went home with some rich guy._

_Are you sure?_

_Scott, do I_ sound  _like I'm kidding?_

_No, I just… that doesn't sound like Noh._

_Well, that's what I saw._

_Okay. Well… huh._ Scott paused for a long time, obviously at a loss as to what to tell the others.

 _Logan's going to skin him alive,_ Jean projected.

 _Yeah, no kidding,_ Scott replied.  _But the team is looking for a missing friend right now. We can't keep it from them either._

_He's going to kill him and use it as an instructive lesson for anyone who wants to date his girls._

_What do you want me to do, Jean?_ Scott asked.

_Stop a murder?_

_Thanks, Jean. That's really helpful._

_We'll just…_

_Yeah._ Scott let out a breath.  _Everyone's worried. We have to tell them. And then hope we find him before Logan does._

_Good luck with that._

_Thanks, Jean._ Scott shook his head before he let out a breath and made it a point to pull K aside first, taking the gamble that he could at least count on her to help him make sure to focus Logan on Jubilee until the shock wore off for her. "Jean found Noh," he told K low. "But there's a problem."

"What kind of problem?" K asked, frowning at him already.

"Jean found him in someone else's bedroom," Scott said frankly — he couldn't find any way to soften that blow, really.

K straightened up and blinked a few times. "Wait."

"Yeah, that was my reaction too."

"That makes  _zero sense_."

"That was also my reaction," Scott said dryly.

"Are you sure it's … I mean … is she  _sure_ that's what's up?"

"She is. And I get the feeling if I pressed her on it, she'd make sure I got the full view she got."

K made a face. "Oh, that's just … she's meaner than you let on, you know that?"

Scott shrugged. "That's not the point right now."

K nodded, obviously starting to focus a little more past the obvious shock. "Alright, well … who is it?"

"Some rich guy," Scott said.

K stared at him for a moment. "If you tell me it's Tony, I'm going to die. Right here."

Scott couldn't help but laugh at that. "It's not. Jean doesn't know who it was."

"Well, damn. That could have been fun."

Scott smirked. "The point is: you know when word gets out—"

"Keep away from Logan, yeah… no kidding."

"When Jubilee finds out, she's going to need him."

"Oh, she'll be upset," K agreed. "But she might just disintegrate the kid on a molecular level, too."

"Yeah, Jean asked me to stop a murder, so that's why I'm telling you first," Scott admitted.

"Alright. Well … if he took off running …" She shook her head.

"Yeah." Scott let out a breath. "Alright. I'll tell the others. Be ready to catch Logan — or at least send him to Jubilee."

"I'll be ready for both." She paused. "But if the kid shows up, I'm going to take him to the groun."

"Just don't kill him," Scott said. Then, after a beat, he added, "I may blast him into New Jersey myself.".

"I'm not sure if Jersey or what I'd do would be worse …" K said, starting to smile crookedly at the thought.

"See?" Scott smirked at her. "We're on the same page."


	5. The Net is Closing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the heroes realize what the problem is.

 

* * *

Paige was honestly worried about Jubilee. After what Jean had found out, Jubilee had looked like the world had crashed on her.

And Paige was  _trying_ to help, so she'd taken her friend out to get some noodles and fresh air and come up with increasingly creative ways that they could make Noh pay, but then…

She had only let Jubilee out of her sight for as long as it took to pay for their food, and then she was gone. And Paige was pretty sure she wasn't gone to go screw around with some rich guy.

So she was kind of relieved when Logan actually picked up his phone when she called in the alarm. "Logan, Jubes is gone!" she blurted out. "We went for noodles and she just… disappeared!"

"Where the hell did it happen?" Logan asked, already sounding like he was running.

"We just went to the mall!" Paige said, her eyes wide. "I thought she needed some fun…"

"On my way," Logan replied, more than a little irritated now that K's clear distraction worked in someone  _else's_ favor. "Keep your eyes open; anyone gives you any flack, tell me."

"Yeah." Paige glanced around. "You don't think this has anything to do with … um… our last missing teammate?"

"I wouldn't be surprised," he said. "At all."

Paige nodded, though she was now even more on edge as she waited for Logan to get there. Everyone there seemed like a threat… so she was glad when Logan arrived, and she rushed over to him. "We were literally just by the noodle cart, and then she vanished," she told Logan quickly.

"That's how it usually happens," Logan agreed. "Just … stick tight."

Paige nodded, holding her arms at the elbows as Logan worked, though Logan looked like he wasn't that surprised to find that the trail ended at the parking lot of the mall. "Maybe Jean…?"

"Yeah. Call her," he said. "Nothin' with her scent is familiar."

Paige nodded and quickly called Jean to let her know what the problem was, sticking close to Logan as they headed back. Though when Jean called back when they were halfway to Westchester to say that Jubilee was unconscious and dreaming so she couldn't pinpoint her, that definitely wasn't helping Logan's glare.

"I'll keep looking," Jean promised. "You know I will." She paused. "I even checked where Noh is, but… they haven't left…"

"And where the hell is Noh?" Logan asked, growling openly now.

"In the city," Jean admitted.

"Quit playin' games, Jeannie. Where."

"He didn't kidnap her, Logan," Jean said. "I may want to tear him apart, but he doesn't know where she is. I  _checked_."

"I need  _something_ to work with," Logan almost shouted.

"And when I have something, you  _know_ I'll tell you!" Jean shot back at the same volume.

Logan was clearly losing his temper, and with nothing good to work with, he turned and kicked the nearest thing to him.

* * *

Noh, meanwhile, was still in Yuu's apartment, half tangled up with the young man. But after that initial rush, he was starting to breathe a little more - and to wonder how he'd wound up there in the first place when his intention had been to avoid Yuu like the Canilishian plague.

But there he was, wrapped up and tracing patterns on Yuu's chest and stuck somewhere between hopelessly devoted and desperately confused. "You never did tell me," he finally said as he leaned in a bit closer, "what brought you into my path."

"I suppose I didn't," Yuu said, though he didn't elaborate right away. It took him a moment, but when he finally spoke, it was yet another vague answer. "I had business with old family ties."

"What kind of business?" Noh asked, shifting so he was a bit closer.

"Just tying up loose ends."

"Yes, but what kind of business?" Noh asked. "I know so little about you." He paused and smirked. "Other than your aesthetic and your skill…"

"You mean what I do for money?" Yuu asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Yes." Noh nodded, still tracing patterns.

"Ah," Yuu said, settling back in. "I have interests in running a small island nation in the Pacific."

"That would be interesting," Noh said. "I know the world here is broken up into its own little governments… I'd like to see the others."

"Government is a loose estimation," Yuu chuckled.

"How so?" Noh asked, genuinely curious.

"Whoever controls the underground controls the government there." He paused and tipped his head. "And likely everywhere else."

"Ah, a shadow government," Noh said, nodding. "Yes, I've seen a few of those. The Skrulls were running an intricate little scheme in one universe… Thankfully, we wiped them out entirely there. Easy enough for my full crew."

He smirked and ran his hand down Noh's side. "I'd like to think I have better tactics and diversions than Skrulls."

"Yuu, a child of this planet could best the Skrulls given enough tools," Noh said, then smirked and stole a kiss. "But I do like your diversions."

"That's encouraging at least."

Noh nodded and stole another kiss. "So, what does a little island have to do with where I was?" he asked, though he hadn't moved far back from Yuu either.

"What does that matter?"

"I'm just wondering how you came into my life," Noh said, frowning a bit.

Yuu pulled him over for a longer kiss. "It was just by chance."

Noh smirked, already starting to play with Yuu's hair with one hand. "Lucky chance," he agreed and stole a long and lingering kiss. "Lots of Earth's songs talk about that kind of thing. My Jubilee introduced me to music… I'm particularly fond of older music."

"Everyone says that," Yuu chuckled. "But they all have different ideas of what's  _older_."

"Well, I'm fond of the 60's…"

Yuu paused and smiled a little wider at that. "Good taste, then."

"I thought you already knew this about me," Noh said.

"You're just reinforcing my impression."

Noh grinned a little wider at that and then kissed him hard, tickled with the turn of the discussion until they were tangled up all over again as they compared favorite songs of the era.

* * *

Scott had a stress headache that just wasn't letting up, and it was even more frustrating knowing that there was nothing he could do until they had a  _lead_.

Jean was still looking, Remy was in town breaking a few rules Scott didn't want to know about to get any surveillance, Warren and Ororo were on opposite ends of the city looking for any sign of Jubilee… So Scott had gone looking for K to see if there were any leads or at least to make sure they were still on the same page with not killing Noh, all things considered.

But he wasn't expecting to get nearly to the barn and hear a familiar snarling sound, and he rushed inside in time to see Sabretooth bash K hard enough to knock her silly, bleeding freely from three fresh holes around the beltline.

Scott swore and fired off a beam that knocked Creed away from K and then rushed to stand in front of K, one hand still on his visor. "One chance, Sabretooth — where's Jubilee?"

Sabretooth glared at him then cracked a wicked smile. "Looks like no one can keep track of the girls around here. Good luck for me."

Scott narrowed his eyes behind his visor and then blasted Creed hard enough to put him through the back of the barn, following him out and glaring hard. "You didn't come here by accident. Where is she?" he demanded.

"I came here for  _her_ ," Creed said. "That's it. Not my problem if you lost the brat, too."

Scott let out a scoff, but he also knew if Creed  _had_ taken Jubilee, he'd want them to know about it to get Logan running. So he just let Creed have it with a blast that knocked him way back into the treeline and then called Hank to let him know they'd need to prep the cell for Creed so he didn't get out again.

He narrowed his eyes to himself and then spun on his heel to K to help her to her feet. "You alright?"

"Oh sure," she said, though her tone was shaky.

Scott shook his head, keeping an arm around her as they headed back for home. "Sorry about the barn. I'll fix it."

"I don't really care about that," K said. "That was just a little too close. Too isolated."

Scott nodded. "Something's going on," he said, obviously frustrated. "There's no way Noh, Jubilee, and Creed aren't tied together somehow."

K shook her head. "He's not smart enough to do that. He's smart … he just … doesn't have the allies to pull it off."

Scott nodded. "And he seemed more interested in you than whatever's going on with Jubilee." He ran a hand down his face. "As frustrating as it is, I think he was only part of this plan."

"Ah, yeah," she said. "That doesn't surprise me. If he could get in on something where he got to get a hold of me to screw with Logan? Done deal."

"Then I guess the question is: who do we know that could pull this off  _and_ would be willing to tip Creed off?"

K drew in a deep breath and held it before blowing it out slowly. "That really doesn't narrow it down," she said. "He's worked for Viper before … Deathstrike, Harada, even that lunatic Russian. But I don't think Arkady's smart enough to come up with this on his own. The other three?" She shook her head. "There are others, too, I'm sure, but … those are the ones that have the biggest beef that I can think of. Or … the most nuts."

Scott paused. "You know," he said slowly, "Jean said Noh was with someone… It could be Harada. Noh's with a dark-haired Asian boy. She didn't recognize him, but if Logan's old connections are coming up…"

K frowned at that. "I … I think I need to see this guy."

"If you don't mind the R-rated images Jean has for you," Scott warned her frankly.

"Ye-ah, well … I just hope I'm wrong. Otherwise, I'll make Logan take me for sushi. In Tokyo."

"Well, now I'm curious," Scott said, smirking despite himself.

"About why that would be punishment?" K asked with a little smirk. "Or …"

"Yes," Scott chuckled.

"It might have a lot to do with me going out of my way to look like a completely clueless American." She smiled up at Scott. "He  _can_ be embarrassed."

Scott laughed outright at that. "That's perfect, K," he said as they got inside and he reached out for Jean.  _K has a theory._

_And you're entertained._

_Different topic, but yes. Yes, I am._

Jean was chuckling to herself as she caught up to the two of them and then squeezed K's arm. "You're cracking him up."

"He just saved me from  _private_ time with Creed; he needed a cookie."

Jean made a face and shivered at that. "Clearly. So, what's your theory?"

"I need you to show me what this guy looks like."

"You really don't want to see—"

"I need to see what he looks like. You said he looked Asian; I need to know which group he's with."

Jean let out a sigh. "Alright," she said, then projected to K what she had seen when she peeked in Noh's mind — and that immediately had K straightening up and looking like she was ready to go hunting.

"Reach out and tell him to get out of there," K said as she took Scott's phone to call Logan.

"What's going on, K?" Scott asked.

"It's  _not_ Harada or Deathstrike," she said as she held the phone up to her ear, and when Logan didn't answer, she made a point to shout into his voicemail. "It's Akihiro. Get your backside here."

"Who's Akihiro?" Scott asked, surprised at the new name. "What's going on?"

K let out a sigh and looked between the two of them before she held up both hands — handing Scott his phone back in the meantime. "You have to understand: he's still new to Logan, too, and if he'd thought the kid was going to be any kind of a threat — or bleed into anyone else's lives — you would have known sooner. He was just …"

"K," Scott said, one eyebrow raised.

"It's a private thing," she said. "But since you're going to hear about it anyhow ... that … is Logan's son from when he was married to Itsu in Japan. He didn't know the kid had lived through her  _dying_."

Jean's mouth was open, and Scott had frozen. "Oh," he managed to say.

"Yeah, that's pretty much what he did too," K said. "She was pregnant when she was murdered. He kinda … lost it."

Scott shook his head, still trying to wrap his head around it. "And now he's here to ... what, get in the middle of everyone?"

"He hates his father," K said. "So chances are good he's out to take him out somehow."

Jean nodded slowly. "Distracting him with Jubilee… sending Creed… that would throw him off his game."

"Right. So. We need to find  _Logan_ before whoever was contracted to grab  _him_ gets the shot." K gestured openly. "But Akihiro? We need him to know where Jubilee is. But that will  _not_ be easy."

"She's not anywhere near Noh," Jean said with a frown.

K shook her head. "No, but Akihiro would know where she was. He'd hired Deadpool to kill Logan as a means of  _introducing himself._ "

Scott whistled low. "I'll find him," he said, already heading out.

Jean smiled tightly at K. "I'll talk to Noh."

"Don't get close to him," K said to Scott. "Open air — keep your distance."

"What's the story?" he asked, pausing to look over his shoulder.

"Pheromone manipulation … and it would explain why Logan couldn't catch an odd scent on Noh either. He can turn his scent off, more or less."

"Pheromo-" Jean blinked. "That would explain a lot."

K nodded slowly. "It's an issue."

"I'll be careful," Scott promised.


	6. Play Rough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Noh finally gets the whole story.

 

* * *

Noh had been slowly waking up that morning, still curled up with Yuu and comfortable with Yuu's arm over him, when Jean reached out to him:  _Noh, get out of there._

The message took him by surprise — especially because he hadn't even  _thought_ of the X-Men in a long while, and he knew given his current circumstance, they couldn't possibly be happy with him. Again.

_Jean?_

_Yes, it's me. I need you to focus, Noh. You need to leave. Now._

Noh frowned, shifting slightly so he was on his back instead of curled into Yuu so he could see the young man next to him. And that's when it hit him — everything that he'd done.

 _Jean… I … I didn't mean_ —  _Jubilee must be furious and I didn't mean to_ —  _I'm not sure how_ — He shook his head. Nothing he could say would excuse his behavior, especially when he didn't know what had  _happened_. This was the first time he had even a relatively clear head to  _process_ it all, possibly because he'd slept.

 _His name is Akihiro,_ Jean projected to him.  _He's been manipulating you as part of a plan to get to Logan._ Jean paused.  _Jubilee is missing, too._

Noh froze.  _What?_

_She went missing not long after you did._

For a long moment, Noh could only narrow his eyes before he slowly nodded to himself and carefully slipped out of the bed.  _I'll find her,_ he promised as he looked around for his clothes, though the movement woke Yuu.

"Where are you going?" Yuu asked almost lazily.

"To find my Jubilee," Noh said, his eyes narrowed as he turned to glare at Yuu.

"You don't know where she is?" he asked, stretching slowly.

"No, but I suspect you do," Noh said.

Yuu frowned at that and gestured openly. "I don't see her here. Sorry."

Noh narrowed his eyes a little further. "This is your one warning before I make you tell me."

Yuu smiled crookedly at that. "Are you going to get rough now?"

"Yes."

"Come back to bed then," Yuu said, chuckling to himself.

For just a moment, Noh balled his hands in fists, but when he started to feel that same tug as before, that  _drive_  that had him  _wanting_ Yuu in almost desperate need, he tipped his chin up… and decided on a course of action. He slipped back over to Yuu, who still looked perfectly amused, and pushed him back into the pillows before he kissed him hard.

But instead of getting wrapped up like they'd done before, Noh put a hand on Akihiro's chest to get a little distance. His heart was still rushing in his ears, and he still wanted to keep going, but he'd had a plan going in, and he was just with it enough to hang onto it. And Akihiro didn't know that swapping spit had some serious consequences when it came to Noh.

"You will tell me where Jubilee is," he said, meeting Akihiro's gaze fully.

It was clear for a moment that Akihiro was having trouble focusing — which was a real difference already from how their tryst had gone. "She is safe," he said softly.

Noh shook his head and then kissed him deeply again. "Location."

"She's in a top floor suite at the hotel down the street," Yuu said, finally gathering his wits enough to try and push Noh away.

Noh gave Akihiro a dry look and didn't move at all with Akihiro's efforts. "Jean said you mean to get to Logan. How?" he asked.

"Distractions."

"And then?" When Akihiro paused, Noh kissed him hard again, pinning him to the headboard. "Specifics."

"I'm going to kill him," Akihiro growled out.

"That's ambitious," Noh said dryly.

"What did you do to me?"

"You don't know all my secrets," Noh said. "Now, how are you going to try to kill Logan?"

"I haven't decided yet," Akihiro said, though his expression shifted to one that wasn't anything like Noh had seen before on him. "But it will be slow."

Noh let out a low hiss. "You will  _not_."

On hearing the hiss, Akihiro popped the claws on both hands and drove one hand forward to stab him, moving completely on instinct, so the mind control couldn't stop it.

Noh let out a cry and then responded in kind, driving the five points on his hand into Akihiro's ribcage. "That certainly explains the strong feelings," he bit out through his teeth, starting to put things together when he had claw marks in his chest. "But you'll have to do better than seduction and kidnapping, Akihiro."

"Do  _not_ call me that," Akihiro growled out low.

"I'll call you what I please," Noh shot back in a hiss. "You kidnapped the love of my life and did something to bring me into your bed."

"You didn't question it," Akihiro said with a smirk. "Must have been missing something."

"What did you do?" Noh demanded, driving his hand a little deeper into Akihiro's chest.

"Clearly not enough," Akihiro said, still in that almost taunting tone.

Noh narrowed his eyes at that before he shoved Akihiro back with his free hand and kissed him hard again. "Answer the question."

Instead of words, though, Akihiro simply turned up his manipulations as hard as he could on what Noh was used to feeling — before he shifted it to complete and utter fear.

Noh was shaking, and he pulled back from Akihiro, his eyes wide. "What…"

Akihiro had regained some of his carefully metered rage — though to anyone that could have seen him, it was also clear he wasn't entirely up to speed either. "I can take away all hope," he said. "What happens to you if you throw yourself from the roof?"

"I can heal," Noh breathed out, though he was clearly backing away.

"From a thirty-story fall onto pavement?" Akihiro asked with one eyebrow raised. "What about little Jubilation? Could she live through that, too?"

"Don't — leave her alone," Noh said in a breath. "Stop it."

"You'd have to make me."

"I can," Noh said, though without his usual confidence.

Akihiro tipped his chin up with a scoff and turned to walk away. "Of course you can."

For a moment, Noh could only watch him leave — but he was more afraid of losing Jubilee than anything else, and that was what had him rushing forward to pin Akihiro to the wall in a much more involved kiss. "Stop," he said when the kiss broke.

Akihiro blinked, staring at him, but for as involved as the kiss was — and how  _strong_ the order was — he simply did as he was told and dropped all of the manipulations.

All of a sudden, Noh felt like he could  _breathe_ again, and then he was absolutely furious with Akihiro, laying into him hard enough to knock him out — and break his skull in the process. When Akihiro crumpled, Noh let out a breath and then quickly found some clothes so that he wasn't going after Jubilee in his crumpled clothes or nothing at all…

He didn't think she would forgive him after this, but at least he could get her out of danger.

Once he was changed, he ran down the street, checking all of the suites on the top floor of the hotel before he found Jubilee — and since she was still unconscious, he scooped her up and simply took off running until he got to Westchester, still more than a little off his game as he came skidding to a stop outside of the room that housed Cerebro. After all, he knew he would at least find a friendly face in Jean, since she'd reached out to him.

 _Jean, I found Jubilee,_ he projected to her.

 _What about Logan_? Jean projected back.

Noh blinked. He had clearly missed a lot.  _He's missing too?_

_Yes. He fell out of contact, and K can't track him down._

_I had no idea, or I would have asked,_ Noh said, shaking his head.  _I can go back…_

 _I don't want you to risk yourself again,_ Jean said.

 _He still doesn't know how I was able to control him,_ Noh argued.

_You … you what?_

Noh smirked quietly.  _He wanted to swap spit, as you say,_ he said.  _But my saliva has hallucinogenic, mind-controlling properties. It's helpful for interrogations._

For a moment, Jean was quiet even in her projection, but then when she did reply, it was in a clearly amused tone.  _You didn't tell us that._

_I told Jubilee. I didn't expect it to come up with anyone else._

_Do yourself a favor and do_ not  _tell Logan that._

 _Noted,_ Noh said as the door to the room opened and he smiled tightly at Jean — even as Jean looked over the young man in the designer suit holding an unconscious Jubilee, knowing without even peeking at his mind that he was a mess of emotions from the look on his face.

"It's been a busy day," Jean said. "You missed Sabretooth, too."

"Oh, of course I did," Noh said dryly.

"He was trying to … well, he was after K," she said. "And now, of  _course_ , Logan's missing too."

Noh let out a breath. "I'll ask Akihiro where he is when he wakes up," he said. "I could show you where he was staying… or, at least, where  _I_ was…."

"I think considering what K said he could do, I'd be better off keeping some distance," Jean said.

Noh paused and let out a breath, suddenly thinking of what would happen if the Phoenix host were under Akihiro's manipulations. "Yes. Well. It's not pleasant," he said. "But I left him with a broken skull, so…"

"He earned it," Jean said.

"It wouldn't kill him," Noh said. "He popped his claws into my chest; I know who he's related to."

"He's Logan's son," Jean said, nodding. "One that Logan apparently didn't know about until somewhat recently."

Noh nodded. "Well, I'd like to take Jubilee to Hank. I suspect she's drugged…" He let out a breath. "And then I'll take K to Akihiro. Maybe she can find some clue to Logan's location."

She nodded at that. "Just find him soon. One way or another, Jubilee will want to see him, too."

Noh nodded at that, taking off again to drop Jubilee off and then find K, skidding to a stop and quickly putting up both of his hands. "I know I've been missing and that I'm in trouble with Jubilee, but please, let me explain—"

"You don't need to," K said, surprising Noh with her easy reply. "I know how Akihiro is."

"I left him unconscious," Noh said. "I can show you where."

"Please," she said, looking honestly concerned.

Noh let out a breath and then swept her up to run back to where he'd just come, starting to get tired out from all the back and forth as he sat down on the edge of the bed and gestured to Akihiro's unmoving form. "I broke his skull."

"Poor lamb," she said sarcastically before she tore up the top sheet and used it to tie Akihiro's hands behind his back — sure to twist his wrists up at a nearly impossible angle while she did so. As soon as she knew he was more or less secured, she shifted her tone to something incredibly sweet as she called his name — and then slapped him hard.

She didn't give him any time to respond before she hauled off and hit him again — which had him waking up and cursing in Japanese at her. "Where is he?" she asked, her tone no-nonsense.

But, of course, there was no way he was going to answer so easily. She tried again, and in response, Akihiro turned up the fear again — Noh could catch that much — but instead of backing off like Noh had, K tipped her head and sent a fist full of claws into his liver. "I stab what scares me, so let's try again. Where. Is. My. Husband?"

When Akihiro glared, Noh took a deep breath and stepped forward, fighting back his own rushing fear, to spit at Daken, leaving the saliva dripping down his cheek. "Answer her."

"Basement of Fisk's waterfront."

"Was that so hard?" Noh shook his head, then turned to K. "What do you want me to do with him? He'll need to be held somewhere he can't access his powers."

"Throw him in the cell next to Creed," she said. "Henry has a power dampener he can use that will shut them both down."

"Good," Noh said, taking a step forward to grab Akihiro by the shoulders. "I'll send the rest of the team your way."

"They'll know where I'm headed. Tell Kurt first."

"Alright," Noh said, then simply picked Akihiro up to make the run back — albeit a bit more sluggish — to stop in Hank's lab. "I need a cell for this one."

Hank looked surprised as he looked up from Jubilee's IV line, blinking between the two young men. "I'm sure there is a long story here," he said.

"There is," Noh agreed. "But before he uses his powers, please — the cell."

"Of course," Hank said as he darted around them to open the door and set the dampener to 'on' for both of the secured cells.

Noh smirked and finally set Akihiro down inside the cell. "Make yourself at home."

"This won't hold me," Akihiro promised, still looking furious at the whole situation.

"I'm afraid you can't terrify the walls into submission," Noh said mildly as he headed for the door.

"If you think that's all I can do, then I'll simply have to give you a refresher later."

Noh paused and turned to narrow his eyes at Akihiro. "You will keep away from me — or I will remove any part of you that touches me again."

"Oooh, where was that kind of threat last night?"

"Yes, I see now that I should have led with dismemberment," Noh said dryly.

"Wouldn't be my first," Akihiro called back.

Noh rolled his eyes and then closed the door behind him. And then, all at once, he felt more tired than he had in a long time and leaned against the door … and then looked over at Hank. "Thank you."

"I'm sure we'll talk later," Hank said.

"I'm sure I'll have a lot of explaining to do," Noh agreed. "How is Jubilee?"

"She'll take some time to come out of whatever it was she was drugged with," Hank said. "Her blood is still going through analysis."

Noh nodded and sat down beside her. "I've hurt her again," he said quietly.

"Yes, well … I'm sure there's a story here."

Noh gestured vaguely toward Akihiro. "Emotional control," he said tiredly. "If I had been aware I needed to learn that separately from telepathic defense, I would have."

"Ah. Not an entirely unique situation."

Noh nodded. "If you could tell me when she wakes up…" He let out a breath. "I need to eat, and then I think I'll be in my ship. I doubt Jubilee will want to see me when she wakes up."

"If you leave before she gets the chance to speak to you, then you might want to reconsider that," Hank said.

"I'm not going to leave," Noh promised. "I just don't think she would be pleased to see me upon waking. I disappeared again. And whatever the circumstances, I destroyed her trust and betrayed her. She would be better served with Logan here," he added quietly, feeling honestly like trash at that point.

"And if Logan were here, I would certainly agree," Hank said. "But he is  _not_ , and she still needs someone who could show her she's not alone."

Noh let out a breath but nodded, settling into his seat by Jubilee. "Alright," he said softly. "But if she asks me to leave…"

"Then you should go — but not until then," Hank let out a weary sigh and gestured for Noh to sit down. "Perhaps I haven't made myself clear. Jubilation has always felt as if she's been tossed to the side. To leave her now — even if you don't intend to make amends — would only make that complex worse. Explain to her what happened. Give her the chance to make the choice herself."

Noh nodded, reaching over to gently put his hand on Jubilee's arm. "I'm just tired of getting her hurt," he admitted. "I keep finding ways to do it despite my best efforts."

"I'm afraid I don't have a good reference to give you just now, Noh-Varr. That seems to be simply how life is in our circle."

"Well, hopefully, I can find a way to break that pattern," Noh said, settling in to wait.


	7. I'm So Sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Noh has to pick up the pieces. Again.

 

* * *

When Jubilee started to wake up, she was still a little fuzzy, but when she peeked one eye open and saw that Noh was sitting next to her, she just closed her eyes again. She did  _not_ want to deal with him. She didn't even know why he was  _bothering_ to show up.

So she was just going to ignore him — at least, that was the plan until K got in with Logan… who just looked  _bad_. Which was just a mark of how bad it was: if K was playing nursemaid to him, then he was obviously in rough shape.

She could hear K talking in a low tone that she couldn't quite make out the specific words to, which was what got her to open her eyes — and then as soon as she saw how beat down her Wolvie looked, she was scrambling out of the hospital bed and tearing her way over to Logan before K had even set him down.

"What  _happened_?" she demanded.

"It's a long story," K said. "One that I think he'd prefer to tell. Later. When Hank is done with him."

"No, but  _what happened_?" Jubilee said, her eyes wide.

K sighed as she helped Logan get into a bed, and shocking Jubilee, he didn't even try to explain yet — or tell her to back off. "Someone that knew how to hurt him  _did_."

"Well, who was it? Because I will totally—"

"That's what needs to be explained later; come on, Jubes, if they were a threat right now, do you think I'd be here?" K asked. " _Still_?"

Jubilee frowned at that and then let out a sigh that tipped her head back. "Okay, fine," she said. "But this bites."

"I'm not trying to hide anything or block you," K promised. "But you're going to want to hear it from  _him_."

Jubilee crossed her arms. "Okay, fine. But, like, some creep grabbed me, and then I wake up and my Wolvie is like  _this_ , so I need to hit something."

"So hit something," K said simply as she went back to work, with Hank directing traffic.

Jubilee let out a huff and started to walk back to where she'd woken up — and of course, when Noh got to his feet and took a step toward her, she hauled back and punched him in the jaw and followed it up with a burst of plasmoids that put him in the wall. "Oh, look. I'm feeling better already." With that, she turned on her heel and left to go find some Twizzlers to munch on while she waited for Hank to do his magic.

She had her head in the pantry looking for the candy stash when Jean caught up to her, though she didn't look up at her. "I'm gonna put him through the next wall if he shows up again, so I'm not sorry, so tell Scott to pull the stick out," Jubilee said as she pulled apart a Twizzler to eat.

"I take it Logan and K didn't talk to you about this yet?" Jean asked. "Because it might just surprise you to hear what the real story is — and that Noh isn't at fault."

Jubilee rolled her eyes at that. "Of course you're taking his side," she said. "Wasn't his fault with the stupid Kree or Magneto…"

"Then I'll let you wait for Logan to tell you why it wasn't his fault," Jean said.

"Logan's going to use his head to kick a field goal."

"I think you'll be surprised then," Jean told her. "Because he won't."

Jubilee frowned at that and crossed her arms, leaning with one shoulder against the wall. "Yeah, well, he's beat up and not even fighting K on medical, so…"

"So he's hurt," Jean said. "And beating himself up. Normal."

"Frustratingly so," Jubilee said with a sigh.

"I'm telling you, Jubes: You don't know the story yet." When Jubilee didn't look convinced, Jean sighed and added, "And I honestly didn't think that Logan would come back this bad off."

"Well, K won't tell me the story," Jubilee said. 'Which is fine. Whatever. Typical." She shrugged one shoulder up to her ear and chewed on her candy a little more aggressively.

"She won't tell you because she barely told me," Jean said. "And she only told me so I'd get through to Noh. Scott was ready to kill him too, so you know."

"Well, at least  _sometimes_ he's a sweetheart," Jubilee said with a quiet smirk.

"More often than you think," Jean told her before she stole a Twizzler.  _It really is a mess. And considering Logan's usual level of craziness, that's saying something._

 _I just wish people would leave him alone,_ Jubilee projected back.  _And leave me out of it._

_Believe it or not, there was a very twisted bigger picture in play. Noh was one part of that. You were another. And Sabretooth showed up to get to K … all so someone could take a run at Logan. Noh is not at fault._

"Easy for you to say," Jubilee shot back angrily, letting her tone rise and a few sparks fly. "You're not the one who got ditched for some stupid  _rich guy_. Nice way to let me know I'm not his  _type_."

"A 'rich guy' who was manipulating Noh with mutant abilities," Jean said evenly. "Not quite mind control — but just as effective, maybe even more so, if I'm honest. Without knowing what the real story was, the truth might not ever have come out. It was strong and subtle at the same time. Unique and just …  _ugh_. You know what? Just … let's talk, okay? You can hit Logan later."

Jubilee narrowed her eyes for a long moment and then nodded. "Fine," she said.

Jean watched her for a moment then took another Twizzler. "Noh was under the control of a  _pheromone-_ powered mutant. He twisted him up emotionally with his … power set." Jean made a face before she took a bite of Twizzler. "Ugh. It even sounds creepy."

Jubilee tore apart a couple Twizzlers that were stuck together. "So… what, he just… made my boyfriend follow him home?"

"Yes." She looked toward the hall and tried to find a better way to explain it. "So that rush when you get close to someone you find attractive? Chemical reaction? That's what he was doing to Noh. He kept bumping into him and using that every time. And you can  _bet_ I already looked through Noh's memories to see if it was the same guy that he'd mentioned before. It was."

That finally had Jubilee pausing, since she remembered Noh telling her about that guy. "He did say he had a stalker," she admitted.

"He wasn't wrong."

"Yeah, but, like..." Jubilee let out a sigh. "Never mind."

"No, what were you going to say?" Jean asked.

Jubilee worked the Twizzler and spun it in her fingers, glaring at the bag between them. "But there's a difference, alright?"

"Why? Because it wasn't his mind?" Jean said. "This guy twisted Noh's emotions to the point that he didn't know what was up or down." She leaned toward Jubilee over the counter. "And I'm telling you: This guy? He's a  _pro_ at making people do anything he wants."

"So, what, I'm supposed to just… forget this guy stole my boyfriend and just… gah." Jubilee bit off another piece of candy. "This bites."

"It's more complicated than that, and you know it. And that's not even figuring in the  _rest_ of it," Jean rolled her eyes and rested her head in one hand. "Which, by the way, is why Logan's beating himself up so much, so you know."

"He just does that," Jubilee said.

Jean shook her head. "No, he's actually got a good reason this time. Not to take it as  _far_ as he is, but …"

"There's always some good reason," Jubilee said. "What is it now, and how hard can I hit whoever this creep is?"

"He likes to go by 'Daken'," Jean said. "But … apparently his name is Akihiro. And you could probably hit him as hard as you like, since you wouldn't do any lasting damage."

"And why the heck is he coming for my boyfriend, me, and Wolvie and K?" Jubilee asked. "Because I need to know how far up his nose I'm putting my plasmoids, mkay?"

Jean smirked at Jubilee's protective streak but knew that letting it sit like Logan wanted was only going to hurt more for  _him._ "He hates his father. And if Noh and K hadn't worked him over, then he would have taken a very good shot at killing him." She gave Jubilee a significant look. "As it stands, he's just beating himself up now."

Jubilee blinked a few times and then held her hands up in the signal for a time out. "Wait. Wait. He has a  _son_?  _Since WHEN?"_

"K said it was a newer discovery for him, too," Jean said. "And apparently from when Logan was  _married_ in  _Japan_ after the war."

Jubilee looked like she could have been knocked over just by poking her in the forehead. "Oh, he is in so much trouble."

"K was covering for him too," Jean said, snatching up another Twizzler.

"Of course she was. Because why not?" Jubilee shook her head.

"She was the one to ID Akihiro and tell us what he could do," Jean said. "So … if she didn't know, this all would have been very bad for all of us."

"Sounds like you guys were busy while I was getting caught.  _Again_."

"Yeah, well, you know how it is," Jean said in a teasing tone. "Scott walked in on Creed doing horrible things in the barn that did  _not_ include immediate murder … and then she ID'd the very weird  _son_." She paused again. "Did you know that Noh has mind-control saliva? Because apparently that is a thing that I am  _not_ telling Logan about."

"Yeah, don't tell him, please," Jubilee said, shaking her head. "He told me— but he can choose whether to use it or not," she added quickly, since she didn't want Jean to get the wrong idea.

"Well, after I filled him in on the fact that Akihiro may have known where you were — he used it."

"Okay, so that's actually a big point in his favor," Jubilee admitted, knowing Noh had been holding back on that particular power because of "this world and its free will."

"He was furious," Jean said quietly. "And he made Akihiro drop the manipulation, which was not good for his health."

"Yeah, I just… wish he'd done that sooner," Jubilee said just as quietly.

"You'll have to ask him the details," Jean said. "But it sounded like every bit of it was manipulation."

Jubilee let out a breath and then nodded once. "Okay. He gets one chance. But, like…"

"After a decontamination shower for sleeping with your big brother's son?"

Jubilee did a full body shiver. "Eww. Why did you have to say it like that?"

Jean grinned at her. "Would it help if I said he was your foster dad's estranged son? So like … your almost brother?"

"Now it sounds like a soap opera!"

"Only if you say it in Spanish."

"You're ridiculous," Jubilee said, shaking her head at Jean.

"I was  _totally not listening in_ when Noh took K to interrogate him," Jean said, doing her best to try to look innocent and failing horribly. "And his manipulation worked on her too. Kinda."

"Kinda?"

"He tried to make her afraid of him, and she stabbed him."

"Oh, well,  _I_ could have told you that was gonna happen," Jubilee said with a shrug.

"Right? Highly paranoid feral mutation plus fear equals someone is going to bleed. Shows you he's an amateur with those two, anyhow." Jean said, trying to get a little smile out of Jubilee. "And Noh feels like complete garbage. In case you wanted to know."

Jubilee let out a long breath. "Yeah," she said quietly. "It's just… hard to go from being furious with him to forgiveness even when he has  _stupidly good_ reasons for it every time he gets in trouble."

Jean nodded. "So … he can still make it up to you if you need it. It's not all about what he's done. You were hurt; he can fix it."

"He better," Jubilee said, then paused. "But, like, now I want to find this stupid estranged son or whatever and see how many sparkles I can fit up his nose, because that's just…  _not_ okay."

"You can't do that," Jean said. "I am  _very sure_ that you don't need to be near him."

"Just two seconds?" Jubilee fluttered her eyelashes at Jean.

"He has claws," Jean said. "And he stabbed Noh."

"Well that just… sucks."

"He is  _not_ a very pleasant person," Jean said.

"Clearly." Jubilee took a deep breath and held it before she let it out slowly. "Ugh."

"But … the family resemblance is there," Jean said, just as a means to get a reaction out of Jubilee.

"Okay, but now I'm going to get a complex," Jubilee said. "And trying  _really_ hard not to picture my boyfriend and a Logan lookalike…  _ewww_."

Jean burst out laughing at that. "I said resemblance — not  _clone_. He's  _very_ Japanese."

"Okay, so … now I kinda want to know."

Jean smirked and took a moment to focus and project an image of  _just_ Akihiro's face, since she was very sure that Jubilee did not need to go poking around.

"Okay, you're so right, and also, I now have a complex," Jubilee said, shaking her head.

"You were going to give yourself a complex no matter what," Jean said. "At least he's not ugly."

"Fair," Jubilee said, then split the last two Twizzlers between herself and Jean. "Can I ask you something — seriously?"

"Anything," Jean promised.

"Okay, so, like, when the Hellfire Club is being stupid and Emma Frost is getting handsy with  _your_ guy, how do you not, like, implode? Because…"

"Who said I don't?" Jean asked.

"Um, she's still alive?"

"I try very hard to keep Charles' rules into play. Now … if she had done anything to the degree that Akihiro did to Noh, she wouldn't even be a smudge of ash."

Jubilee couldn't help but smirk at the mental image. "Not that I'm wishing anything terrible on Scott, but, like, I would like to see that. The destruction of the White Queen, not the leadup," she added quickly.

"You never know what might happen," Jean said with a little shrug, though even at the thought, there was fire flashing in her eyes. She unfocused her gaze for a moment and nodded to herself — a surefire tipoff that she was having a chat with someone else too. "Logan's sedated, and K's keeping watch. Sounds like he'll be out for a while. Sorry, Jubes."

"That's just typical," Jubilee said in a sigh.

"There was a carbonadium issue," Jean said.

"Ugh. Are we  _sure_ we can't destroy this guy?"

"K called dibs."

"Okay, but you could just… firebird…  _woosh_ … ash pile!"

Jean smirked. "I could, but … then she'd have all that creativity and no where for it to go."

"Well, yeah, but she could destroy Sabretooth instead?"

"That … did not go well," Jean said. "I did tell you that, right? He had her down."

"Yeah, and then Scott got him. Which… I won't lie. I'm kinda sad I missed that."

"Old Man Summers' version of 'get off my lawn'," Jean giggled.

Jubilee burst out laughing and then reached over to hug Jean. "Thanks. I — I kinda needed that."

"I'm on your side, Jubes. I hope you always remember that," Jean told her as she snuggled Jubilee a little tighter. "All of us are, even when it doesn't feel like it."

"So… I'm on the senior squad now, right?" Jubilee said — it was worth a shot.

"You'll have to ask Old Man Summers. I hear he's in a good mood. You might have a chance."

"Well, he put Sabretooth off his lawn. Of course he's in a good mood!"

"You'll have to ask him," Jean said. "You know how it goes."

"Oh, fine," Jubilee said, then gave Jean one more squeeze. "Seriously… thanks."

"Go talk to him. You can pretend you're checking on Logan."

"Yeah… I sort of put my cute alien idiot in a wall… I should probably … do something about that," Jubilee admitted, then waved with the tips of her fingers as she got up and headed out.

When she got downstairs, she had to frown when she did see that Logan was totally knocked out, and K was talking with Hank in a low tone, though Noh was back to sitting where he'd been when Jubilee woke up in the first place and was just watching the whole thing quietly.

Jubilee took a deep breath, held it, and then headed over to pull a chair in front of Noh and then put her finger in his face. "Okay. You've got, like, five minutes to  _spill_."

Noh almost immediately reached forward, like it was an instinct, then paused and let his shoulders drop instead of touching her at all. "I'm so sorry," he said. "I wish I had a better explanation for you than that I was overcome with emotion, but that's what happened. I didn't mean to hurt you. I was  _trying_ to avoid him." He let his gaze drop. "I can't change what happened, and I understand if you never forgive me."

"How about you start from the beginning and tell me  _how_ this happened," Jubilee said slowly, though she was hugging her arms around her middle tightly. "I just don't understand … Jean explained some of it, but I want to know  _how_."

"I told you about that young man who bought me coffee and kissed me, yes?"

"Yeah, but I want to know, like, did you  _doubt_ how you felt? About … well either one of us?"

"Not about you," Noh promised quickly. "When my mind was clear, every time I got a moment to myself, a moment of clarity, I wanted to find you."

"Well that's good, I guess," she said softly. "But why didn't you?"

Noh took a deep breath a held it. "You know that feeling, when you and I are alone together and lost in each other's arms? That moment when you can feel the growing excitement, that tickle in the back of your throat and all you can think of in the moment is that next kiss, the next move?"

"Okay, you can stop now," she said, holding up one hand.

"You did ask," Noh said, though he looked deeply uncomfortable himself.

"I just … I don't know how you didn't leave if you were thinking about it." Jubilee was staring at the ground at that.

"I did," Noh said quietly. "The first several times I met him, I did. But every time, the draw was faster and stronger."

"So … like drugs?"

"I suppose," Noh said. "That's why I didn't want to go into town. I didn't know what was going on, but I didn't want to hurt you."

Jubilee looked up at him with a little frown. "Did you tell everything to Scott yet?"

"No," he admitted.

"Okay. Well … maybe I'll sit in on that? As long as you do  _not_ go into detail about what you were doing with him."

"I'd rather those details were not common knowledge," Noh said, looking a little more uncomfortable than she was used to seeing him — especially since he had such  _open_ views on the subject.

"Do you want to go back to him now?" Jubilee asked.

"No," he said sharply. "I'd rather destroy him."

"Why?" she asked, simply wanting to see where his head was at.

"Because he threatened you," Noh said. "I'm angry with him for what he did to me, but he threatened to drive you to suicide." He shook his head. "Jubilee, you have to understand — even if there was an attraction to start ... and a shared love of music …" He swallowed, flushing slightly. "...none of that can  _ever_ make up for his threats on you." He paused again and seemed to take a moment to compose his emotions. "And I broke his skull."

"I don't understand why he'd want to do that to me," Jubilee said, staring at him openly. "Or like … how. That … no."

"When Jean helped me and reached out to me to tell me what was going on, I confronted him and demanded to know how he'd been manipulating me," Noh explained. "So he changed his manipulations from sharp, driving lust to pure fear." He shook his head. "I could barely breathe, and he pressed his advantage."

Jubilee tipped her head at that. "Maybe it's just … you know. Stronger with aliens …"

"I don't know," Noh admitted. "The only other person he used his manipulations on that I could see was K." He paused. "Well, no… When we met in the coffee shop, everyone in the shop was beside themselves wanting his attention as well. I thought it was odd at the time, but knowing it's pheromones, that could explain it."

"There is a serious compensation issue here, but not the time," Jubilee said under her breath before she raised her voice a little. "Okay, but … I don't know what to  _do_ with this," she admitted. "I know it's not fair to blame you for something like this when you weren't in control, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm  _hurt._ "

"I don't know the right answer either," Noh admitted. "I know I hurt you, and I don't know how to change that. I was trying  _not_ to."

"This is just … really weird," Jubilee said, hugging herself at the elbows.

"Well, what do you need me to do?" Noh asked, leaning forward to gently put a hand on her knee. "I could give you every reason I love you… I could give you every reason you are his superior in every way…"

"Well I mean, honesty kind of beats … you know. The whole manipulation and lies anyhow," she said. "Jean showed me what he looks like, though."

"You're far more beautiful," Noh promised.

"Uh-huh."

Noh paused, then smirked and leaned forward. "And to be perfectly honest with you, I far prefer sleeping with you."

"He's totally too old for you," she said.

"And too selfish a lover," Noh said.

"Oh my  _God_ ; I don't want to know  _that_."

Noh smirked a little harder. "But I don't want you to compare yourself, Jubilee," he said.

"Um … not like I have a choice, dude. If the tables were turned, you'd  _totally_ be comparing yourself."

Noh scoffed. "Do you know anyone else that is triple-jointed?"

She put one hand on her hip. "Well, I haven't really put anyone through their paces to find out, have I now? Maybe."

Noh smiled and then leaned forward to gently kiss her cheek. "Don't compare yourself, Jubilee. You are magnificent. And every single time that my mind is my own, I come back to you. My guiding star.  _That_ is what's important. The rest is superfluous."

"You … are  _so_ not off the hook, mister." Jubilee's voice was still small, even as she tried to keep up a tough front.

Noh bit his lip and then nodded to himself, holding up one hand. "Wait here," he said, disappearing to his ship before he came back with what looked like a pin, with some Kree writing on it in his native dialect, so no one there really knew what it was.

"Is this some kind of crazy Kree … um … like … decoder ring or something?"

Noh laughed and shook his head. "It's a little better than that," he said. He gave her the pin and showed her the one he had. "These are communication devices — some of the only ones that survived the crash. You know my crew and I shared a hive mind, but when we were separated on missions, these helped us stay in contact."

"We have comms too," she said.

"Not like this," he said. "These reinforced the telepathic link." He gave her a little smile. "If you cannot trust me, then I give you access to my thoughts. My feelings. My memories."

Jubilee stared at the pin for a moment, clearly unsure of what to  _do_ with it. "I just … don't want to be left behind anymore," she said softly before she tried to hand it back to him. "I don't want to invade your … you."

"It's not an invasion if I'm offering it," Noh said, closing her hand around the pin.

"But … I don't … really want to be like … well. I don't want to be like Jean and Scott hiding in each other's minds all the time."

"You don't have to use it," Noh said. "But I want you to have it. If you ever have reason to doubt me, you can look and find how I feel."

"Well, if you want to know the truth, I should be able to do that anyhow," Jubilee said almost self-consciously. "You know. If I can get past all my own … crap." She peeked up at Noh. "That's what ol' Charlie says anyhow."

Noh smiled gently at her and kissed her cheek. "I'm just trying to help," he said. "I'm open to you. Entirely."

Jubilee clearly didn't know what to say to him at that, though, and she was more than a little overwhelmed with the offer. Especially so close to such a deep invasion of his psyche.

"I know I have to earn your trust," he explained gently. "Maybe we can simply start with giving you knowledge that you can find me anywhere." He smiled. "After all, I can't possibly get caught up in another such scandal if you can simply reach out and catch me in the act, can I?"

"But … that makes it sound like you might want to," Jubilee said — the start of a tiny tease.

Noh shook his head. "No, I don't — but I don't expect you to trust me about anything like that when you're hurt. Best to make sure you are well-protected."

"Noh," Jubilee said, looking between the pin and Noh's open expression. "I don't think you'd do that again. Not after Jean told me you used the mind control stuff you were telling me about before." She whispered the last part, glancing toward K and Logan. "I know you said you don't like to use that on anyone."

"It's not my favorite advancement," Noh agreed. "Especially not in this universe marked by free choice." He paused. "I wouldn't have taken his free will away if he had not taken mine."

Jubilee nodded. "This is just … more of my crap, really. I think."

"Still," Noh said. "Let me help."

"If you're going to keep helping her, at least close the curtain," K called out. "Or go elsewhere."

Noh smirked at that. "If you like," he said Jubilee's way, "we can go curl up in my ship. She  _definitely_ likes you better than she liked Akihiro."

"I just want to talk to Wolvie when he wakes up," Jubilee said. "I know he's beating himself up for being a dirty little secret keeper."

"K will tell us when he wakes up — won't you, K?" Noh asked without looking away from Jubilee.

"If it means going out to your ship where you're holed away? Don't bet on it," K said.

"My ship has a tie to the comms system. Just call."

"I don't want to interrupt," K said with a smirk.

Noh shook his head and tossed the nearest pillow her way. "K!"

But K took the pillow and fluffed it a little before climbing into bed next to Logan. "Noh!" she replied in the same tone. "Just go. We'll be here for a while anyhow. He's slower to get up when he's this … deep in the self blame."

"Then we'll both be back in a few hours," Noh said, scooping Jubilee up and kissing her cheek. "I promise we'll be there for him. But right now, I'd rather make sure you know where my priorities are, and they are  _not_  with Logan."

"Oh, thank goodness," K said. "That would be a whole different complex …"

Noh smirked as Jubilee giggled — and then laughed when Noh simply took off with her to a ship that sounded to Noh like she was  _very_ happy to see him with Jubilee and not a creepy stranger.


	8. Picking Up the Pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which K gives good advice.

 

For a long time, Noh and Jubilee didn't do anything but curl up together in the  _Marvel_.

They didn't even fool around; they just stayed under the covers and wrapped each other up and tried to feel more comfortable, even though that was probably going to take a little doing. Noh still felt terrible — especially because he had the gnawing doubt in the back of his mind that he  _could_ have fallen for Akihiro on his own, without the help, though he supposed he would never know how much was manipulation when he didn't trust Akihiro to give him a straight answer.

That was, Noh thought, the worst part. He could have really  _liked_ Akihiro, if they had met in another time and place. There was probably a dimension where the two of them were together. Just… not this one, where the young man had forced the connection and used it against Logan.

But the music tastes, the looks, the… everything else…

Noh frowned to himself. That was dangerous territory.

Besides, there was no reason for him to entertain the possibility. Not in this dimension anyway. Yes, he had been attracted to Akihiro, and yes, they shared music tastes and strength and, frankly, good taste. But the moment Akihiro had threatened Jubilee, he'd lost any sway he might have had over Noh without the aid of his emotional manipulations.

There was  _no_ way Noh would even entertain the idea of returning to Akihiro after a stunt like that. So he had to put it from his mind. No point in dwelling on the possibilities when there was a much better present and future right there in his arms.

And as for Jubilee, she had been lying there for a little while trying to get her world to stop spinning. Everything had happened at once, and she barely had time to process being heartbroken before she had been kidnapped, and then she was supposed to not be heartbroken anymore?

Sure, she and Noh had talked about it, but talking didn't mean her heart wasn't still shattered.

It was going to take them a long time to recover from this, and they both knew it.

So neither of them even pretended not to be relieved when Hank reached out to them to let them know that Logan was cleared to leave his lab. It was more than just relief for Logan's sake, too — they were glad to have something to do when they still felt so … awkward just sitting there together.

They both hoped that feeling would go away, but it hadn't yet. And they had to admit that it could take a while still.

So, they went down to the lab, with Noh carrying Jubilee and setting her down gently in front of Logan and taking a step back, not about to get in between them when he had seen this play out before. And as he expected, she rushed over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck in a long hug.

Sure, she could probably have taken him to task for the fact that he'd hidden an entire  _son_ with  _manipulation powers_ from them, but she just didn't have it in her to do that to him when he had that particular expression on.

She'd seen that expression before. It meant he was beating himself up, blaming himself for everything that happened. And while some of it was definitely his fault, since they hadn't even  _known_ that this guy was a threat to look out for, it was only, like, one percent his fault and ninety-nine percent the fact that his son was a total  _tool_.

And she was going to make sure he knew that. She was. But first, she had to make sure… "Are you alright?" After all, when he'd come in, he looked like he'd been pretty well  _trounced_.

"Always."

Jubilee didn't even have to look at him to know that was a lie, but he  _clearly_ needed taking care of more than anything else, so she just hugged him all over again. She didn't even say anything; she just made sure that she was there for him as much as he had been there for her with all the crap that had happened lately.

Noh hung back, his arms crossed, still not entirely sure what his place was in the little group there. He knew that Jean, at least, had told Jubilee what happened. And he knew that K and Logan knew what Akihiro was capable of. But he still couldn't quite figure out how much of what had happened was his own stupidity and how much was manipulation.

And he knew that Logan had simply been waiting for an excuse to tear him apart if he put one toe out of line. So this? This seemed like uncharted territory.

But K had always seemed to be a little more on his side than Logan had been, so he slipped over to her while Jubilee and Logan still had each other in a tight hug — and smiled at her lightly. "If there is anything I can do to help," he said in a quiet enough whisper that only she would catch it — and possibly Logan, depending on how hard he was trying to listen to the things happening around him when he was also making sure that Jubilee was alright, seeing as she'd been kidnapped and heartbroken all in the last little while as well, "then I want to do it."

"I don't know what you could do," K admitted.

"I'd like to try," Noh said, still speaking softly. "I was the one to be caught first, and I want to make amends, especially knowing that Logan is so protective of Jubile…" He looked toward both of them. "They're both so hurt."

"Give me a little time to get him past the worst of it," K said. "As much as everyone wants him to just stop, he's got to work through it a little bit."

"You should never 'just stop'," Noh said with a frown. "Progress is always preferable."

"No, but that's the knee-jerk reaction from 99% of the people I've ever met," K agreed. "It's hard to see people hurt, so they just want it to  _end_. 'Let it go'; 'it's fine'. I'm sure you know the schtick."

"It  _is_ hard to see people hurt," Noh agreed. "I just want my Jubilee to be safe, for example."

"And I'm sure that with a little time — and some built-up trust — you'll be fine," K agreed. "But this … is not your typical 'it's okay'. There is a big, much deeper hurt that just got worse pulling you two into it."

"I know it won't make a difference, but I truly am sorry," Noh told her quietly.

K reached out to take a hold of his hand. "Really. It's not your fault. He saw someone that was pretty and vulnerable and attacked. Actual predator."

"Yes, but I… am still not sure how much was manipulation," Noh admitted, knowing that it was best to come clean. "He was handsome, talented, with good taste in music—"

K drew in a breath and turned his way. "Noh," she said slowly, "how much of that is true for everyone around you?"

Noh blinked. "I…"

"Do you think that just because people are attractive, talented, whatever, that it's an automatic pass to go to bed? Do I need to worry about you with  _half the team?_ "

"More than half the team," Noh couldn't help but tease.

"You're being generous," she said with a wave. "I'm serious. He would not have gotten anywhere near as far as he did,  _as quickly_ as he did, if he hadn't manipulated you."

"That's true," Noh had to admit.

"If he'd have had to compete head-to-head with Jubilee, who do you think would win?"

"Jubilee, obviously," Noh said. "She's warm and gentle and everything I love about this world — and he's selfish and thinks he's always right."

"Then stop. Akihiro is only those good things when he's after something and twisting the odds to his favor." She tipped her head. "I've only met him a couple of times, but that's the impression I got, and I am very rarely wrong."

"He did make quite the dramatic change when I confronted him," Noh agreed. He let out a breath. "I know you're right. It's just that Jubilee is hurt and I know I bear at least some of the fault."

"Noh-Varr, I can see your point," K said patiently. "But the amount of fault and blame you want to take on is exactly how much you're at fault for. I can't give you numbers, but I can tell you that if you  _think_ a lot of this is on you, then even if it's not, you'll make it that way."

"The voice of experience, I assume."

K gestured at Logan. "Not personal. But I know it when I see it."

"Yes, but  _that_ ," Noh said, tipping his head Logan's way, "is patently ridiculous."

"You think so?" K asked as she took Noh's arm to lead him away from the group and give Jubilee a moment alone with Logan.

Noh nodded. "It may be slightly different, but I always knew that my parents had no bearing on my choices. Even in this world where families are often together, you put such a premium on free will that you should know that much!"

"He takes full responsibility for everything that Akihiro is," K said. "Even without having known him until he was fully grown and out to kill Logan."

"You spent the first year I lived here teaching me about agency and choice and responsibility and freedom — and then this runs completely counter to that," Noh pointed out.

"Yes," K agreed. "My sweetheart is like that sometimes. He holds himself to an impossible standard. Always."

"I've said it before, but it bears repeating: you Terrans seem to go out of your way to be self-defeating."

"So sweet I almost want to have Jean stitch it onto a pillow."

Noh gave her a dry look. "It's the truth, though."

"And it's just how it is. We're always our own worst enemy."

"That certainly seems to be the case," Noh agreed. By that time, they were in the hallway, and he stopped to turn her way and give her a light hug. "I wonder if I could ask you a favor."

"What do you need?"

"Advice."

"I'm not sure I'm the best source, but sure."

Noh smirked. "You are for this," he said. "I want to know how I can best prove to Jubilee —  _and_ to Logan — that I really do love her when I seem to keep undercutting my best intentions."

"You can start by just being there for her and taking care of her," K said. "Even if she thinks she doesn't need it, baby the hell out of her. That's exactly what she needs — though  _not_ if she lets you join her for any Danger Room sessions or missions."

"No, she can handle herself," Noh agreed. "Besides, she is better at being an X-Man than I am."

K smirked to herself. "Might not hurt to let her save  _you_ , too. Call it a trust exercise. If she doesn't trust you, she'll let you fall."

Noh gave K a dry look. "I don't need saving — not in that way, anyway. I heal, I'm fast…"

"Do you want my advice or not?"

Noh held up both hands. "Of course. My apologies. Carry on."

"I know you don't  _need_ saving. Let her do it anyhow." She put one hand on her hip. "Ninety percent of the time, do you think  _I_ need saving?" She stuck one finger in his face. "Be careful how you answer that."

"I think the only possible answer here is 'no, you don't need saving'," he said, though he was smiling at her crookedly.

K smirked at him. "Don't forget it either," she said. "But … in spite of the fact that I, too,  _heal_  and have more fights under my belt than most of the team … Logan will still go out of his  _way_ to save me if he thinks I need it." She tipped her head. "Yes, he'd do that for most of the team, but not to the ridiculous lengths."

"It's a protective instinct, I've been told," Noh said.

"That's what I'm telling you," K said. "If she wants to keep trying, she will save you. Don't … go out of your way to be a damsel, but if it's a tossup between getting help or twisting yourself into a pretzel to do it yourself? Get the help."

"I'll … think about it," Noh said, obviously warring with his own pride as he considered it.

"Typical male," she said in a sigh as she turned to head back to the med bay.

"I'm anything but," Noh shot back with a teasing smile

"In this? You are so typical it's painful," she said dryly.

"No, it's not that I don't think a woman  _can_ save me. I just don't … I'm not supposed to  _be_ vulnerable—"

"You can't allow yourself to admit you need help? Very typical. Especially when it's a physical danger." K let out a breath at that.

"I came to you for advice, didn't I?"

"And you don't like what I'm telling you," she laughed. "Like it or not, everyone is vulnerable somewhere."

"Yes, and my vulnerability is my mind," Noh said. "I know that well."

"And your ego. Very delicate spot."

"Really, K," he laughed.

"I don't expect that you'll agree with me," she almost sang as they got back to the med bay. "It goes against everything you think you know." K turned toward Hank. "Not everyone is so burdened, though. Right Henry?"

"Oh, certainly not," Hank agreed without even looking up from what he was doing.

K smirked harder Noh's way and then headed over to where Jubilee was leaning on Logan's shoulder. "Hey, firecracker," K said, "I'm going to take him out for a little quiet time. Can I do anything for  _you_  before I try to get him out of the funk?"

Jubilee shrugged. "I don't think so," she said.

"Noodles? Pixie sticks for the cutest little pixie?"

Jubilee couldn't help but smile at that. "Pixie sticks, for sure."

"You got it," K agreed. "I'll even get a few of those  _giant_ ones that you can hit people with."

"You definitely love me, don't you?" Jubilee said.

"Thought that was established," K said, scrunching up her nose before she pulled Jubilee over to wrap her up in a tight hug.

"Yeah, well, back at you," Jubilee said before she simply doubled down on the hug for a moment and then finally stepped back and let K take over on Logan.


	9. Sonic Food Poisoning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jubilee has the best way to describe things ever.

 

* * *

Once the dust had more or less settled, K had informed Scott that she was taking Logan up north for a little while, and everyone agreed that was probably a good idea, all things considered — except for Logan, but he was well overruled at that point.

But it also meant that Jubilee was Wolvie-less, and Noh was trying to take K's advice to heart to totally baby her outside of missions, taking her out to the mall or ice skating or even building a snow-Kree that she laughed at for five minutes when he insisted on making it as accurate as he could.

And seeing as Valentine's Day was coming up soon, they also decided to go to every chocolate store they could find and stock up on  _everything_.

Noh couldn't help but grin as he watched Jubilee picking out sweets to put in her bag at the candy shop. This was one of those places where you paid by the pound, so she could get whatever she wanted. He'd already picked out a few things he'd never tried before, but she was pouring over the options and taking her time  _on purpose_ , just to see if she could get him to lose his patience and fill the rest of her bag with gumballs like he'd been threatening to do.

"You know, it  _is_ Valentine's Day shopping we're doing," Noh prompted. "I thought that meant chocolates."

"I  _did_ get some chocolates," Jubilee said. "And now, I'm getting a little  _variety_."

Noh chuckled and shook his head at her, leaning against the wall. "I'm just going to buy mine and eat my candies while you languish in your indecision," he teased.

"Oooh, good idea. Then I can steal some of yours while I'm still filling up!"

"That's not…" Noh couldn't help but laugh. "You're so ridiculous, Jubilee."

"Listen, a girl needs to take her time while perusing sweets, get it?"

"If you say so," Noh said, still smiling before he went ahead and dropped a gumball into her bag all the same. "Yellow. Just for you," he teased before he went to go check out.

"Pink is better," Jubilee sang out as she dragged her feet dramatically to the section full of different gummies.

Noh was still smirking to himself as he got to the counter and let the young man there weigh his bag and ring him up. "I think we may be here a while longer," he admitted.

"Yeah, I gathered," the young man said, shaking his head with an ill-hidden smirk.

"It's Valentine's Day. What can I say?"

The guy at the counter took just a moment before he directed Noh to a well-hidden section of the store. "She always looks for these," he said. "And they're never in when she comes through."

Noh grinned when he saw the giant Laffy Taffy. "Oh yes, that definitely looks like her," he agreed. "Can you ring that up for me as well —and I'll just duck out and hide it somewhere at home while she decides…"

"You live close, then?" the guy asked, though he started to ring up everything for him.

"'Close' is a relative term," Noh said with a quiet smirk. "Yes, I could get home and back before she even finishes checking out."

"Suit yourself," the guy said.

Noh smiled and made sure to thank him before he took his little present with him and rushed back home, hiding the candy in his ship and closing the hiding space up so Jubilee couldn't find it before the actual holiday came around. Then, he zipped back over — not at all surprised to find that Jubilee had already started munching on the candy in the bag he'd left behind for her while he was gone.

"Oh, of course," Noh teased. "You took the biggest, pinkest bubblegum first."

"It was-h beggin' for it," Jubilee said with her mouth full of gum.

"Of course it was," Noh teased, then went ahead and stole a kiss — and stole some of her gum in the process, grinning widely at her. "That was the point of your thievery, right?"

"Well … maybe," she said. "It was very pretty too."

"The gum or the kiss?" he teased.

Jubilee tipped her head, one eye closed as she considered him. "That's not a fair question."

"Why not?" he asked and stole another kiss. "Either answer will get you more sugar. You simply have to decide which  _kind_."

"I plead the fifth."

"I don't even know what that means," he laughed.

"No?" she said, raising her eyebrows. "Too bad."

"Well, I'm just going to have to assume I need to keep practicing my kisses with you to measure up to the very pretty bubblegum, then," he said, still grinning crookedly at her.

"Not a bad conclusion," Jubilee said as mystically as she could.

Noh just smirked at that before he wrapped her up in another long kiss, not at all caring when he heard the guy behind the counter duck out so he didn't have to be privy to their nonsense, since he was still working hard to make sure that Jubilee knew  _exactly_ where she stood with him.

He also didn't care when he heard a few other people close by — at least until their footsteps were accompanied by a sharp, high-pitched whine that almost instantly had his skin splintering and bruising as it overwhelmed his senses and practically dropped him where he stood.

"You alright?" Jubilee asked, frowning at him as she went down with him, crouching and obviously trying to look for where he was hurt. "What's wrong?"

Noh shook his head as he tried to cover his ears, not that it would do him much good. "Can't you hear it?" he asked, his own voice too loud to him underneath the high-pitched sound.

Jubilee frowned and shook her head, automatically looking around her to find the source of the trouble. "No. One second you were flirty and fine, and the next, you're spazzing out. What …"

"I don't know," he said, tucking in a little tighter when the sound wasn't letting up and his skin was turning more purple and blue. "Heard footsteps and then…"

Jubilee turned to look around them more carefully, but as she did, someone started to rush for Noh, and she didn't even have time to  _think_ about it before she dropped her bag of candy and kicked the guy in the face, already falling into a ready stance as she watched around them. "Okay. So we should probably  _go_."

"Mmhmm," Noh agreed, though he really wasn't moving much from where he was.

"Okay, but like … you totally need to get upright, dude."

"Yes, sorry," Noh said, taking Jubilee's arm to pull himself up to stand. She could tell he wasn't doing well, since now that he was up close, she could see how unfocused he looked, too. "It's just… loud."

"Alright, but like … I haven't mutated the ability to haul someone your size, so … either get it together or tell me where the trouble is."

"It's… some kind of sonic emitter," Noh said, leaning against her with his eyes closed. "I can't… it's not  _pain_ ; I can't reroute it."

Jubilee frowned and turned to look around them, trying to see something or some _one_ that might be the source. "Hold that thought," she said, going back to the guy she'd kicked in the face. She didn't like it, but she started rifling through his pockets for anything that might be out of the ordinary. But when nothing was amiss, she got to her feet with a frown and flipped on her comm. "There is something  _way_ off in the mall," she said.

"What's going on?" Storm replied when she was the one to answer.

"Noh is acting like he's got like … sonic food poisoning or something, and I don't know where it's coming from."

"Sonic food poisoning?" Storm repeated.

"Hey. It fits," Jubilee defended. "He says it's loud, and he's all … folded over like he's about to puke his guts out or something, and he looks like he went ten rounds with … well. With me kicking his trash,  _obviously._ "

"We'll be right there," Storm promised. "I'll have Forge bring something that can track sonic emissions."

"We're not far from the candy shop," Jubilee said.

"Alright. Keep your eyes open, Jubilee," Storm said before she left to go find Forge — and teleported into the mall with Kurt not long after that, all three senior X-Men looking concerned when they saw the two junior members. Jubilee was obviously taking a defensive stance, but Noh was just as Jubilee had described him, looking downright  _ill_.

Forge let out a low whistle, though his focus was quickly on the tech he'd brought. "Yeah, someone's putting out a high-frequency output." He glanced toward Storm, who smirked at him. "We'll track them down; you guys get back."

Kurt nodded at that, putting a hand on both Jubilee and Noh's shoulders before he teleported both of them right to Hank.

The change in Noh was instant. Instead of looking like he was going to be sick, he looked immensely  _relieved_ and then leaned heavily against Jubilee. "Oh yes. That's much better," he muttered.

"Okay. good. Stay here and recharge. You can't go in there," Jubilee said before she stood up and brushed her shoulders off as she turned to Kurt. "Okay. I wanna go back and help."

Kurt raised an eyebrow at her, but he also wasn't going to argue with someone whose boyfriend had just been attacked, so he teleported with her back to the mall and then took a step back, gesturing toward where Storm and Forge had already engaged with a few Church of Humanity creeps. "Looks like there is still plenty to be done."

Jubilee grinned and turned to help, though as she got closer to the group, she dropped her sunglasses down off the top of her head and put her hands up to blast them back. And to Kurt's surprise, it wasn't the usual fireworks  _alone_. She was concentrating as she worked her gum over, and though no one could see it, Jubilee had her eyes narrowed to slits as she pushed back and burned those that were trying to harm her  _family_.

It didn't take long before, between the four X-Men, they had all of the men down or running, though Kurt teleported to catch up to one of the men before he could make it out and then teleported with him back to the others so he could answer a few questions. Starting with: "Why were you coming after Noh-Varr?"

"He is an abomination and has no business here on  _our_ planet," was the predictable and entirely unsatisfying response.

Kurt waved his hand. "Yes, I've heard that before," he said. "And you often say the same about me and the rest of us here. But not everyone spouting your rhetoric comes prepared with a  _sonic emitter._ "

The guy chuckled but didn't reply to Kurt's statement. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You came prepared specifically for him," Kurt said, his tail starting to twitch irritatedly behind him.

"And you can't keep me here," the guy said. "You have  _no_ authority, and I think, if I were to ask, I'm sure I could press charges against you people."

"Then you'd have to explain to them where you got Stark Industries tech," Forge put in. "This tech isn't on the market yet."

"I don't know where  _you_ got that to plant on me."

Kurt narrowed his eyes with a low sort of growl, though Jubilee stepped forward, sparks flying from the end of the finger she shoved in his face. "Gonna put a plasmoid  _so far up your nose_ -"

"Jubilee," Storm said, gently pulling her back from the guy before she could make good on her threat. "Let's just go home." In an undertone, she added, "Magneto didn't do him any favors putting his face out there for all anti-mutant groups to see who'd done them damage. We don't need to waste our time on petty revenge-seekers."

Jubilee glared at the guy for a moment longer, and then, in a cloud of blue smoke, all four of them disappeared and showed up again in Hank's lab, where Noh was already looking much less black and blue thanks to some kind of bright blue IV that Hank had him hooked up to, pumping him full of nutrients his nanites could use to heal.

"Did you find whatever was making that noise?" Noh asked, honestly curious.

"Creep that squeaks when he's scared," Jubilee said, still looking angry.

"That tends to be the case for those that attack without showing their faces," Noh agreed, frowning at her slightly. "Are you alright?"

Jubilee waved one hand. "Oh sure, sure. Not a scratch. You look like you're bouncing back, too."

Noh nodded. "I couldn't heal fast enough with the noise continuously breaking my tympanic membrane. Now, I can."

"Right. Ear skins."

"You have the best way of describing things," Noh said with a smirk before he pulled the IV and slipped over to her to wrap her in a hug. "Thank you for helping me. If I'd been by myself… this would have gone very differently."

"Oh, totally," Jubilee agreed. "You can't make it half a day without me, can you?"

"Clearly not," he said, nodding along to every word. "I'm in constant need of your protection."

She reached up to boop him on the nose. "You're so lucky you crashed here."

"I really am," he agreed fervently and then pulled her into a long kiss, not at all worried about the older X-Men in the room, either — especially not when he was secretly tickled that he'd managed to accidentally take K's advice to heart about letting Jubilee save him.

And considering how fiercely Jubilee had stepped up to his defense, Noh was definitely feeling good about what that meant for their relationship and their future together.


	10. Tell the Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which it's time to tie some things up.

 

* * *

Logan and K had stayed gone longer than the others had anticipated, and when they did finally return, it was in the middle of the night while everyone was asleep. And that was in large part because Logan just didn't want to  _talk_ to anyone. But of course, it wasn't something he could avoid forever.

It wasn't until  _late_ the next morning, when Logan had thought the kitchen would be mostly clear, that the two of them headed downstairs to get some coffee and try to slip into the normal routine as late as humanly possible.

"Oh, good; you're back." Jean was smiling broadly as she slipped into the seat on Logan's other side. It had been long enough that she was actually starting to show a little — just enough to have the slightest little bump.

"Sarcasm don't look good on you, Jeannie."

"I mean it," she said. "I was starting to worry you two were going to disappear entirely, and then who would I ask to be there so I don't break Scott when I'm in labor?"

"Absolutely anyone."

"Lies." Jean smirked and leaned forward. "You so have to be there. I'm going to cry and Scott's going to cry and someone has to be the adult in the room."

"Oh, and you think  _I'm_ a good candidate for that?" Logan said. "You're nuts."

"I know what I want," Jean said primly, then let out a sigh. "Besides, I was hoping to ask you both a favor — unrelated."

K rested her hand on Logan's arm as he still looked like he thought Jean was cracked. "What's up?" she said, leaning so she could see Jean.

"You've been gone, so you haven't seen it, but you'd be proud of how Jubilee's been making Noh work for it," Jean said with a smirk K's way.

"Wherever would she get an idea to do something like that?"

"It's a mystery," Jean said airily, though she looked more serious as she leaned forward. "But I still think it would be a good idea to let them both confront Akihiro. Together. I don't think they'll get past it unless they do."

"Probably," K said, even as Logan shifted.

"The dampener will be up, and I'll be watching, but—"

"You think he can't do damage anyhow?" Logan challenged.

Jean gave him a  _look_. "But," she continued in that same tone, "I wanted to ask you both to be on hand because  _I'm not an idiot,_ Logan. Thank you."

"We'll be there," K said, then gave Jean a look in return. "He didn't mean physically."

"I know that too," she said. "Which is why  _I'm_ coming. I just want the backup — someone who knows him well."

"Not sure if we'll be much help," Logan said in a low tone.

"I think you'll be surprised," she said. "Especially since they both think you two hung the moon."

"I meant with knowin' Daken," Logan said.

"None of us have a clue with him," Jean pointed out. "You're the closest thing to an expert we have." She got to her feet. "See you in an hour? Jubes and Noh are still out on a date and won't be back until lunch."

"Yeah," K agreed. "I'll just make sure Logan gets a Snickers." Of course, that got a dry look from Logan that softened when she leaned over to steal a little kiss, leaving Jean amused for the time being.

Eventually, though, they all made their way down to where Akihiro was being held — the dampeners still in play. Jean had asked Logan and K to wait until Jubilee and Noh had gone in before they made their presence known — so that Akihiro wouldn't know they were there, for one thing, but also so that the young couple could do this more or less on their own. At least to start.

"Finally come back for more?" Akihiro said in a slow drawl when he saw the young couple walk in.

"Obviously not," Noh said with his eyes narrowed.

"Whatever you need to tell yourself."

Jubilee stepped forward, looking angry already. "How about  _you_ tell  _me_ what the heck kind of loser tries to kill his own father by screwing with my cute alien and me?" she said, her chin tipped up.

Akihiro didn't bother even looking her way. "I'm not telling you anything."

"You will or I'll make you," Noh said with a low hiss. "She deserves to know why you upended everything for her."

Akihiro turned his way and gave him a once over with the tiniest of frowns on his face. "Frame it how you like, I'm not interested in another round."

"Neither am I. I'm only interested in hearing the truth," Noh said evenly. He paused. "And for the record, you should  _be_ so lucky."

"I prefer not to be so stagnant," Akihiro said.

"That's so not the question, dude," Jubilee said, looking more annoyed by the second.

"Little Jubilation, you really shouldn't be dabbling in things you don't understand," Akihiro said.

"You're the one that pulled me into your crap show."

"You were bait, that's all. That's what you're here for, isn't it?" He smirked to himself as he continued. "That  _is_ why he stayed, I'm sure. Who wouldn't want to play around with one of my father's little followers?"

Jubilee turned a brilliant pink as Noh cut across her and stood between Akihiro and Jubilee. "Don't speak about what you don't understand," he said. "We came seeking answers, not insults."

"It's always the same, isn't it?" Akihiro said. "Though you should be happy you found someone to transition to that was close to your own age. I know how this turned out for little Shadowcat."

"Oh, you are so lucky I can't shove a plasmoid up your nose right now," Jubilee said through her teeth.

Akihiro propped himself up on one elbow as he finally turned her way. "I thought you wanted the truth."

"About why you decided to come after Wolvie, you dolt. If I wanted to hear someone pick apart my team, I'd listen in on Charles and Magneto playing chess."

"That's a matter between myself and my worthless excuse for a father." He leaned toward them slightly. "And as much as you wish it were different, you're not in that loop, are you? If you were, you would have known about me."

When Jubilee took a step back, Noh glared at Akihiro. "If I had trash in my genetic line, I'd be quiet about it too."

"Yes, I've heard things about your genetics, too," Akihiro said. "Same kind of trash."

"Yes, I'm quite the abomination," Noh said dryly.

"Gullible, certainly."

Noh narrowed his eyes, taking another step forward with a reverberating hiss before he spit at Akihiro. "Answer her question. Why come after us? Why torment Logan?"

"Because it would work."

Jubilee scoffed. "Okay, yeah, we get it. But, like, Wolvie is literally the best. So what the heck is your  _problem_?"

But that only got a snarl out of Akihiro. "That is a  _lie_ ," he managed to say through his teeth. "You don't know a thing about him."

"You wanna bet?" Jubilee shot back, her eyes flashing as she squared up with him. "Because he's practically  _raised_ me since I was a kid. I think I know him better than you, you jerk."

"He chose to turn his back on his own blood," Akihiro said. "You know a fraud."

"He doesn't turn his back on  _anyone_  unless they earn it," Jubilee said.

"He  _did_ ," Akihiro said. "When I was a baby. What did I do to earn that?"

"No, see, someone lied to you," Jubilee said. "Because I've seen him get shot up just to save kids on the  _street_ that he's never met. He's put himself on the line for me a hundred times over. Whatever happened? He would  _never_ abandon a  _baby_."

Akihiro shook his head at that. "Doesn't change the truth, even if you hate to hear it."

"She's right," Noh said, this time in an almost gentle tone as he watched Akihiro.

"I don't care what you think. I'm not lying, and it  _is_ the truth."

"Then tell me why, when we learned about you, Logan told the team that he'd only  _just_ learned of your existence recently," Noh said in that same gentle tone. "I know how hard it is to hear that your upbringing is not what you thought it was, but you must see the truth."

"Go to hell."

"I don't believe in such a place."

"And I don't believe in the idiotic lies you choose to believe about  _my father._ "

Noh tipped his head slightly. "Ah, but I have proof," he said simply. "I've seen him every day. I see how he interacts with little ones, with me, with my Jubilee."

"You've seen the person he wants you to believe he is," Akihiro said as he turned away from them.

"And you see only what  _you_ want to believe," Noh shot back. "Have you  _asked_ him the truth? Or have you simply pouted like a petulant child?"

"I have no reason to believe a word that comes out of his mouth," Akihiro said.

"Then you are a spoiled brat, clinging to a worldview that evidence does not support and demanding that others bend to it."

"And you're doing the same asking me to ignore everything that I  _know_."

"Fine." Noh tipped his chin up. "You know I can force the truth from someone. If I brought him here and forced him to tell the truth, would you believe what he says?"

Akihiro smirked after a long moment before he turned back toward Noh. "Perhaps."

"Fine," Noh said again, headed for the door -—and surprised that Logan was close by already. "Oh, good. How much of that did you hear?"

"Enough," Logan said.

Noh gestured with one hand. "He's intractable. But if I can make him see the truth, maybe I can help you both. I can force you into the truth, which I know is what you told the team, and if he sees you have not lied, he'll have to reckon with it."

"I've told him the truth already, Noh," Logan said. "Doesn't matter."

"Yes, but not when he knows you cannot lie," Noh argued.

"Noh, he can smell if I'm lying. He knows," Logan replied, then let out a breath. "And hell. He's not wrong. I wasn't there."

"It is patently impossible for you to be 'there' for a child you didn't know was alive," Noh said, blinking at Logan like Logan had lost his mind. "What part of temporal understanding passes your knowledge? You cannot impart knowledge to a self that has not experienced what you have. You would alter everything and create an alternate timeline if you had that ability—"

"Noh," Jubilee cut in, shaking her head at him before she darted forward and simply hugged the stuffing out of Logan. "That dude is just a total meathead. If you'd'a raised him, he'd be  _way_ better."

"You don't know that he'd be any different," Logan said.

Jubilee scoffed. "Like you'd let him get away with anything stupid," she said. "Come on. He's literally in there  _pouting_. That is  _so_ not something allowed in the Howlett household. Back me up on this, K!"

"Totally," K agreed before she reached out and smacked Logan in the back of the head. "So knock it off and go play along to get him to stop being … like that. If that doesn't work, I'll have a word with him myself."

Jubilee couldn't help but snicker at that. "Ooooh. He's in  _trouble_."

Noh gestured with one hand toward the door. "I have to warn you: I'll have to spit at you and activate the process."

"First time to be mind-controlled like that," Logan muttered.

"I don't like to use it," Noh admitted. "But he is being ridiculous."

"I'll come with you," Jean said. "We'll turn the powers back on — and not tell him — and I'll keep him from moving until we can get a collar on him first. I'm not going to let him manipulate anyone… but I'm not going to let him take a run at you either, Logan."

"Probably a good idea," Hank agreed before he ducked out to get a collar for just that purpose.

"I'll do it," Noh offered. "I"m fast enough that even if he could start up his manipulations, I'd get there before they took effect."

"It's fine, Jeannie," Logan said. "I can take it."

"Yeah, and I hate seeing you get hurt, so humor me." She smirked. "Call it a craving. I don't want to see you get stabbed."

"You know you can't just tack that on to everything and call it a craving, right?" Logan said.

" _Sure can!_ " Jean sang happily.

"No, you can't — and even if you could, it ain't my job to take care of it."

"You really don't want Scott down here for this," Jean pointed out.

"Nothin' he doesn't already know anyhow," Logan muttered.

Jean rolled her eyes at him as Hank got back with a collar, and Noh took it and asked, "Well then. All in favor of Jean's plan?" When Jubilee smirked and raised her hand, he grinned at her. "And yours is the only vote that matters, Jubilee. Let's go."

It didn't take long, either. Like Jean had said, she was able to pin Daken to the wall, and Noh was fast enough to get the collar on quickly, leaving Daken stuck and powerless when Logan came in.

"You know how this works," Noh told Daken.

"You need to have the army to hold me down to  _protect_ my father?" Akihiro said. "Typical."

"A wise woman recently told me that even if you don't  _need_ the protection, you take it when those offering it are the ones who love you," Noh said simply. "This isn't a show of force. It's a show of affection."

At that, Logan pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a breath, waiting to see where it was going to fall.

Noh let out a breath and turned Logan's way. "Alright. I'm going to force the truth now, so my apologies in advance for overtaking your agency," he said sincerely before he spit at Logan, giving it a moment to work before he turned toward Akihiro. "Ask him. He'll answer."

Akihiro narrowed his eyes at the group of them. "Fine. When did you first find out about me?"

Logan took a breath and looked like he was honestly thinking it over for a moment. "September of 1950. But she wasn't due until spring—"

"When did you find out he  _survived_?" Noh clarified, since Akihiro was narrowing his eyes and looking smug.

"About six months ago."

Noh gestured openly to Akihiro. "He isn't lying."

"He never looked either," Akihiro said.

"Try asking instead of assuming," Noh snapped. "Logan, did you look for him?"

"He hadn't been born, and she was dead. The whole village was a wreck. What was there to look for?"

"Again, he's not lying," Noh said.

"It doesn't matter," Akihiro said, leaning his head back.

Jean let out a scoff of a breath when she heard it. This was getting nowhere, and frankly, she was  _tired_ of seeing one of her best friends in the world let himself get beaten down over something that wasn't his fault.

So she simply dove into Akihiro's mind in frustration, pushing through his defenses with just a bit of fire that was a little hotter when she was pregnant, looking into how Akihiro had been raised to hate his father and had been force-fed everything he was saying. She rolled her eyes and then pushed back a lot of those memories, forcing him into his own mental plane to see the memories from the outside side by side with the memories she pulled from Logan while he was still unfocused under Noh's mind control.

 _Would you just_ look _, you twit._

_Ah, there's that understanding and nurturing side I've heard so much about._

Jean smirked.  _Be careful. I'm the Phoenix and I'm hormonal and this_ is  _me being nice._

_I really don't care._

_Just look._

Akihiro was clearly not amused, but he was anticipating what he might see more than he was feeling smug. Particularly since he'd been told how very little Logan had cared for his mother. So he was entirely captivated as Jean showed him his first  _real_ glimpses of Itsu.

And when Jean saw him shift to a much more open look, she simply took everything she could get from Logan's memories and laid it bare for him to see.  _This is the truth,_ she said as she did so.

 _Is … is that all_? Akihiro asked, though even his mental voice was small and very soft.

 _I wish there was more. I think you would have liked …_ She trailed off.  _I'm sorry. A lot of his memories were trashed by the Weapon X program. This is all he has._

Akihiro turned toward her with an expression that was teetering between anger and desperation.  _How do I know you didn't create this?_

_Because I didn't. Because I haven't been to those places. And I don't speak Japanese, so I don't even know what they were saying, to be perfectly honest. I caught a few basic words like 'thank you' but… You can ask me in person and check my scent, but I'm not lying._

Akihiro looked almost lost as he thought it over, still watching the swirl of cherry blossoms on the breeze.  _It's just so different._

 _I know,_ she said.  _But it's the truth._

_I still don't … trust... this._

_Then ask me again in person. You'll know if I'm lying. And I'm not,_ Jean said.

_I don't want to talk to any of them._

_That's fine. You need to process,_ Jean said.  _But you can't kill your father just because you were lied to._

Akihiro didn't respond to that, not because he agreed or disagreed but just because he was still trying to wrap his mind around all of it. So when Jean did back out of his mind, she simply nodded at the other two, and they slipped out of the room, leaving him inside and clearly wrestling with it.

"I feel sorry for him," Noh said softly. "It's not an easy thing to start over from scratch on everything you believe."

"I doubt he'll see it that way," Logan said before he turned and caught up with K. "You two need anything else or are we done?"

"Wait, I need one more thing," Jubilee called out before she rushed over to hug Logan again.

Logan put his arms around her, but he wasn't exactly participating as he usually did.

 _It's not your fault,_ Jean projected to him.  _The people who raised him made sure to poison his mind. They twisted him. It wasn't you._

_Sure, Jeannie._

_Logan, I actually looked. I know what I'm talking about._

_I'm just gonna go grab a drink. Let me know if you got any cravings Scott can fix._

Jean shook her head. She knew it was going to take Logan some time to come around. But at the very least, she had to hope that they'd  _started_ Akihiro on the right path.

"Come on," she told Noh and Jubilee, "let's get some ice cream."


	11. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we send off our star-dusted ship <3

 

 

It had taken Noh a few years before he was confident enough in his standing with Logan and K  _and_ Jubilee before he got around to asking Jubilee to marry him, and then a year of planning and preparing a sweet little wedding in the gardens. But eventually, they'd gathered all their friends and gotten the paperwork filed for their license, complete with some finagling with SWORD to get Noh cleared up.

All that was left was to say the 'I do's.

They had everything arranged. Paige was going to be Jubilee's maid of honor, and Noh had asked Charles to be his best man, seeing as it had been him that convinced him to give their world a try in the first place.

And Jubilee had only one choice when it came to who would walk her down the aisle.

She was almost bouncing in place when Logan met her outside the garden, and she threw her arms around his neck in a hug as soon as he got there. "You better watch out, because, like, Jean already cried twice helping me with my hair, so we're all gonna have to deal with emotional nonsense," she teased.

"She's just like that," Logan told her before he took a tighter hold of her hand. "You don't have to do this if you've changed your mind."

"Um, I have  _not_. I even helped wrestle Nate  _and_ Rachel into their flower girl and ringbearer outfits. I am  _invested_ now."

"I have to offer," Logan told her.

"Well, counteroffer," Jubilee said, grinning at him crookedly, "what if you walk me down to him and threaten him  _juuuuuuuuuust_ a little bit."

"No middle ground, Jubilation," Logan said. "Either you're doin' it or your not."

"Oh, I'm doing it," she promised. "You just looked like you needed to threaten him or your day wasn't complete."

Logan shook his head and then very carefully kissed her cheek. "Not how this works."

"Not like I'd know. I've never been married," Jubilee pointed out. "Is it normal to feel like I'm going to pass out? Because I  _may_ have almost done that earlier…"

"Pretty normal," Logan said.

"Okay, well, that's good to know," Jubilee said, then took his arm in a tighter grip and kissed his cheek. "Thanks, by the way. For not killing him."

"Would've upset you."

"You got that right," Jubilee agreed with a little nod, then all but skipped forward as the music started up and they headed down to where everyone was waiting.

Kurt was the officiant, of course, and he couldn't stop grinning at both of them when they looked so  _thrilled_. And seeing as pretty much all of the X-Men had managed to come to be part of the wedding, there were plenty of good feelings all around.

And Noh, of course, was just as poetic in his vows as everyone would have expected him to be: "My sweet, darling Jubilee," he said, "you are everything that I have learned to love for myself, the very reason I stayed on this world. You are light, love, laughter, and joy, and you are at the same time a fierce warrior and defender of justice. How could I do anything but give my heart, body, and soul to you?"

Jubilee, of course, simply shook her head at him — since, even if she'd been prepared for him to blow everyone away, she was still getting used to what a  _romantic_ he was. "That's what I love about you, Noh," she said with a smile. "I should just carry you around in my pocket all the time. Anytime I need the reminder of who I am and what my worth is, there you are, making sure I know it. I'm glad you're my family now.  _Officially._ "

With that, the two of them shared a sweet kiss, to grand applause, and then Jubilee simply grabbed Noh's hand and started  _pulling_ him along toward the party.

Everyone was tickled, but Jean got to the new couple first, positively grinning and preening — since she'd seen this one coming a mile away and could still remember how sweet it was when she'd started seeing pinks and yellows in Noh's mindscape.

"I'm totally stealing yours. You can have mine for compensation," Jean informed Jubilee, grabbing Noh by the hand and leaving Scott laughing at her before he offered his hand to Jubilee.

"She's been like this all day. You'd think she had anything to do with it," he teased.

_I so did, Mr. Summers, and don't you forget it._

_Sure, Jean. If you say so,_ Scott projected back before he turned his attention back to Jubilee. "This suits you, Jubes. Seriously. We're all glad you two got married."

"You and me both," Jubilee said with a smirk over his shoulder toward where Jean and Noh were dancing. "Should I get all territorial on her? Because I so could."

"I think I'd know if you had to," Scott pointed out with a steadily growing smirk.

"I'm just sayin'..."

"Yeah, sure," he laughed and spun her around.

And Jean, for her part, was perfectly happy dancing with Noh, who was obviously over the moon about the whole thing and gushing about the details of the wedding. Everything from the cake to the decorations — all of it was new to him, and all of it was tailored to his and Jubilee's styles.

"This is exactly what I hoped it would be," he admitted to Jean, still clearly riding the high of being married. "Lots of music, joy… and Jubilee is more beautiful than ever."

"It just gets better," Jean promised him with a wide grin. "Just wait."

"That's what K said as well."

"Well, if both of the married women on the team said it…" Jean smirked and then kissed his cheek. "You two are going to rock the world."

"Of course we are. We already have," Noh shot right back with his own crooked smile.

Jean had to laugh at that, but seeing as the song was winding down, she totally wasn't prepared for it when Noh and Jubilee shared smirks and then  _completely ditched_ their current partners to dash back to the middle of the dance floor and do their own little dance together when the next song came on.

It was practically a game after that, with a few people cutting in for dances that only lasted  _most_ of the song before the newlyweds would 'escape' and go find each other, laughing the whole time and clearly enjoying themselves.

So when Logan and K caught up to them, Jubilee just started to giggle and pulled Logan off for a dance while Noh promised K he wouldn't spin her too much, seeing as she was a few months pregnant.

"We really just came over to wish you well," K said. "You don't have to dance at all if you don't want to."

Noh chuckled and gestured toward where Jubilee was already pulling Logan off to dance. "I think it's a settled debate," he said. "Besides, I'd like to dance with you. You've been a great help to both of us."

"Again, exaggerating. Always with the exaggerations."

Noh chuckled. "But it's the truth," he pointed out. "You were one of the first Terrans I trusted. And considering I thought Kurt was not of your Earth, I'd think you were the  _very_ first I trusted. My life would have been quite different if someone else had been there."

"No accounting for taste then, hmm?" K teased.

"Apparently not," he teased right back. "Besides, you led me to Jubilee. I should be thanking you."

"That was mostly her," K said. "I just let her sneak along."

"And gave me advice… helped me against the Kree, Magneto, Akihiro…"

"Yeah, well … I'd have done that for anyone on the team, I think." She popped up on her toes to kiss his cheek. "Congratulations all the same. It's taken you two a long time."

"I wanted to be absolutely sure she had no doubts before I proposed," he told her. "I think I was ready a long time ago." He smirked. "Shortly after I met her, really."

"You are so much like your almost-father-in-law."

"Thank you."

"You're very welcome," K said. "You two have always been sweet with how  _smitten_ you are."

"It just happened that way," Noh chuckled. "Nothing I could do to stop it."

"Of course not," she agreed with a laugh. "Forces of nature."

Noh grinned and then redirected the two of them toward Logan and Jubilee. "You could talk," he teased. "You and Logan are the same way."

"Oh no," she said. "We're generally fast movers. And once he chased me down, it was more or less a done deal."

Noh laughed and kissed her cheek. "He's very lucky."

"He worked for it."

Noh nodded his agreement, still smiling as they caught up to their respective spouses. "Thank you for letting me borrow her," he told Logan.

"She'd have told you 'no' otherwise," Logan said with a little smirk as he gave Jubilee a little kiss then pulled K over to himself. "Sounded pretty as a picture when she told Remy to shove it in French."

"Oooh, and I missed it," Jubilee giggled.

"Sorry; you were being spun at the time, I think," K said.

"Not sorry," Noh said, smiling as he snagged Jubilee around the waist. "In fact, I think we should do a little more spinning, don't you?"

"Oh, definitely," she agreed with a laugh, letting him sweep her up to carry her further out onto the dance floor — and letting Logan and K slip back toward the outskirts of the party.

As it was, Logan and K were more than ready to slip away entirely. The crowd was gathering up to send the newlyweds off, and K was honestly worn by that time of the evening. So as Jubilee got the final hugs and kisses from her friends, Logan led K toward the boathouse, where they'd moved to get away from the hustle and bustle of the group at large while K was fighting with her pregnancy.

The lights at the institute were glowing warmly behind them when Logan stopped, pulling K to a halt next to him on seeing someone sitting in a chair by the door of the boathouse. Everyone they knew was up at the party — or everyone that was  _friendly_ was, anyhow. But when it was apparent that their surprise visitor had no discernable scent, Logan knew exactly who it was.

"Akihiro," Logan said in a metered tone. "What brings you here?"

"I thought I would find you here, away from the crowd," he said simply.

"Well you did," Logan agreed. "So what do you need?"

Akihiro watched Logan for a long time and then nodded to himself without getting up. "Nothing much," he said. "I simply thought I would like to know you better."

Logan watched him for a moment, then turned toward K, who kissed Logan's cheek and went in ahead of them. "How about some tea?"

"Yes," Akihiro said with a slow nod. "That would be a good place to start."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe it took me forever from the last chapter to post the epilogue. It's been edited for-ever; I just forgot to post it, I guess.
> 
> Anyway, here we are at the end of this story. I really had only ever planned for this universe to go as far as getting Noh and Jubes together and having him solidly in the X-Men, so I don't think there will be more in this particular universe, but you know I'm going to continue to play with my favorite space goat every chance I get, so look out for more Noh in other universes!


End file.
